Lee County visitors, bed tax collections up in March

March is to Southwest Florida tourism what December is to retailing. And March was very good to the region’s pivotal tourism and hospitality trades, as Lee County’s Tourist Development Council heard Friday at its monthly meeting in downtown Fort Myers. Among the brightest spots: • Preliminary bed tax collections in Lee County for the month topped $5.9 million for a 13.7 percent year-over-year gain. Lee County charges a 5 percent bed tax to renters of short-term lodgings. • Collier County also scored a record bed tax haul of more than $2.7 million. Collier County’s bed tax is 4 percent. “The largest month in history,” crowed Tamara Pigott, executive director for Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau. Her enthusiasm was echoed at the Island Inn on Sanibel. “March was great for us,” said Chris Davison, vice president of operations. “Our average daily rate was up by $40 year over year — a record for us. Occupancy was 96.7 percent. You can’t get much better than that.” Both Pigott and Davison credited pent-up consumer demand for an especially prosperous March.

@ Ft. Myers News Press | Posted: 05/14/12 at 1645 EDST

Collier County tourist visitation up nearly 8 percent in 2011

At an industry briefing Thursday, Jack Wert, Collier County's tourism director, shared the final statistics for 2011. Visitation set a record in the county with nearly 1.5 million visitors last year, up 7.7 percent over 2010. Here's a look at the other statistics for 2011 and how they compared to 2010 based on information from Research Data Services, a county consultant: direct spending by visitors: more than $782 million, up 10.6 percent; total economic impact: nearly $1.3 billion, up 10.6 percent; average daily rate: $155.80, up 3.3 percent; annual hotel occupancy: 66.7 percent, up 6.4 percent; tourism industry jobs: 30,600, up 5.5 percent; visitor sales and gas taxes: nearly $82.6 million, up 10.6 percent; and tax savings per household: $691, up 9.6 percent. Last year, tourism generated about $13.8 million in tourist taxes, up 6.8 percent over 2010.

@ Naples Daily News | Posted: 05/14/12 at 1622 EDST