In November, St. Pete brought in more than $1 million in monthly tourist development taxes for the first time ever.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Pinellas County Tourist Development Council is assessing how last year’s busy hurricane season impacted tourism during the holiday season.
Tamara Journeau said downtown Treasure Island is currently cold and quiet.
“There are more stores that are closed. There are restaurants that also are closed,” Journeau said.
Journeau is visiting from Montreal. She spent the last couple of days competing at the Flag Football World Championship in Tampa.
She said she’s visited the Tampa Bay area a few times, but this time is different.
“I think we didn’t see much of tourists,” Journeau said.
As the beach town recovers, the county is looking back at how the storms impacted tourism revenue.
“Treasure Island and Madeira Beach had a slight decline. That’s mainly because the mom-and-pops are not open yet,” Clyde Smith with Bilmar Beach Resort said.
Clyde Smith is a member of the county’s development team.
“We have a lot of things that are coming back slower than we want but progressively, and we’re starting to get some more demand towards Spring Break,” Smith said.
Beach towns like St. Pete Beach can relate.
“As much as the traffic might be irritating at times, it pays a lot of bills,” Smith said.
Following the storms, many downtown St. Pete streets were packed with people spending a lot of money. The city brought in more than $1 million in monthly tourist development taxes for the first time ever.
“It’s more displaced homeowners and renters that needed temporary housing as their homes got repaired,” Smith said.
Places such as Tropicana Field that brought a rumble to the city are closed due to storm damage. Despite this, Visit St. Pete-Clearwater is making plans to keep shining with a new campaign.
“Clearwater is much more than sand and sea. We will demonstrate that a vacation in America’s favorite beaches means incredible beaches, calm waters, sunny weather and so much more,” Visit St. Pete Clearwater said.
More information on the “Still Shining” campaign can be found on the Visit St. Pete-Clearwater website.
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