LARGO, Fla. – Pinellas County is bouncing again in a large manner from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, stunning even some native leaders.
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In keeping with Go to St. Pete-Clearwater, January’s vacationer growth tax, additionally known as the resort mattress tax, cash for tasks like seaside renourishment, was $8.29 million. That’s a file for the month.
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“Demand has held sturdy for the reason that storm incidents this previous fall,” Eddie Kirsch, the director of digital and information for Go to St. Pete-Clearwater, stated as he introduced January’s numbers to Pinellas County’s Vacationer Improvement Council on Wednesday.
“For the third 12 months in a row, the tourism growth tax surpassed $8 million in January,” he stated.
This January’s tourism growth tax beat the earlier file in 2023 by about $4,000.
“It’s wonderful to me that our January collections in 2025 had been higher after two hurricanes not too way back,” Pinellas County Commissioner Brian Scott, the Chair of the Council, stated. “That’s wonderful to me and is nice information.”
By the numbers:
It follows a file December for the TDT too. Whereas it did develop total, St. Petersburg and Clearwater carried a lot of the weight in January. St. Pete’s TDT grew by practically 34% in comparison with final January, totaling about $1.5 million. Clearwater, together with its seaside, grew by 16%, with greater than $2 million. Occasions just like the St. Petersburg Energy and Sailboat Present in downtown helped add to these numbers.
St. Pete Seashore, Treasure Island and Madeira Seashore’s TDT fell by nearly 35% this January in comparison with final.
Whereas resort demand was up nearly 17% in comparison with final January, outpacing Hillsborough and Sarasota, Kirsch stated, council members identified different elements might be contributing to that too.
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“One other factor that I feel has helped the accommodations out fairly a bit are the holiday leases. There are lots of these which can be closed down and accommodations are extra accessible than them,” Phil M. Henderson, Jr., the president/CEO of StarLite Cruises, stated.
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Kirsch stated extra teams visited in January, and there have been extra daytrips than up to now. He stated they’re additionally hoping to reopen about 1,400 resort rooms by the spring and summer season.
They hope to maintain the momentum going via spring break and the remainder of the 12 months.
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“With a later Easter, there’s an extended spring journey interval that, hopefully, we’re capable of reap the benefits of, and we’re paying shut consideration to the accommodations and tasks which can be reopening to ensure that as these begin to reopen, we’re centered on driving demand and getting these again open,” Kirsch stated.
They’re additionally wanting into how locals staying in accommodations with FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Help program could have factored into the info. Kirsch additionally credit Go to St. Pete-Clearwater’s advertising, although, to the file numbers. Greater than double the guests this January stated they noticed some kind of promotional promoting for the world earlier than their journey.
The Supply: The data on this story was gathered utilizing Go to St. Pete-Clearwater information.
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