Every time someone stays at a hotel, 6% of the bill goes right back into the local economy, and the revenue from that tax broke records in March, according to St. Pete-Clearwater.
Hillsborough tourism industry reverses downward slide
Hotel occupancy rates and tourist tax collections show visitors are returning.
Â
Â
Hillsborough County s tourist tax collections and hotel occupancy rates for February and March show an industry rebounding from the COVID-19 pandemic. [ Visit Tampa Bay ]
Updated 3 hours ago
TAMPA â The economic bonanza from footballâs Super Bowl 55 in February is inspiring another sports term in Hillsborough Countyâs tourism industry: Rebound.
Instead of collecting misfired basketballs, the tourism industry is corralling an increasing number of visitors. Tourist tax and hotel occupancy data reported Friday to the Tourist Development Council showed the nearly year-long tourism slowdown from the pandemic is reversing.
Floridaâs Tourism Recovery Has Been Uneven, Biggest Challenge Still Return of Business Travel
February 17, 2021
Beach communities like Clearwater Beach have fared better than other Florida cities during the pandemic. Photo: Jon Bilous/Shutterstock.com.
Hospitality and tourism has long been the driver of Florida’s economy. According to the Visit Florida’s latest Travel and Tourism Report, the industry had a $91 billion economic impact on the state in 2018, supporting more than 1.5 million jobs and $54 billion in total wages and proprietor income for the state’s workers.
Now, almost a year after COVID-19 devastated travel and tourism economies around the world, Florida is no different. The state saw a 34% drop off in visitors for 2020 and, like almost all major global destinations, is looking to climb the rest of the hurdles towards its tourism recovery, which is so vital to the state.
How Tampa is attempting to host the Super Bowl in the time of Covid
Sitting pretty on the west flank of Florida, the city is the right place at the right time for this American carnival , say tourism bosses
6 February 2021 • 12:00pm
Tampa is preparing for Super Bowl LV, which will be held at the city s Raymond James Stadium (pictured) this Sunday
Credit: Getty
If you were to subscribe to the idea – to lift the relevant line from King Lear – of meddlesome gods who “kill us for their sport”, then you might look to this weekend’s Super Bowl as a classic case of divine mischief. It is no wild exaggeration to say that, even before it starts, what will play out in the Florida sun on Sunday may already be the most remarkable game in the history of an event that usually comes soaked in hyperbole.