What goes up must come down.
In the case of rebounding tourism in the first half of 2021, the ease of finding outdoor activities and dining options on Anna Maria Island and elsewhere in Florida combined with faith in the COVID-19 vaccines prompted record-setting numbers of AMI-bound travelers.
June 11, for example, saw more than 2 million people pass through TSA PreCheck at the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport for the first time since March 2020.
The Transportation Security Administration’s 2 million mark was passed a few more times, including two days in early September, according to Anne Wittine of Quantitative Research Data Services.
Wittine’s company provides research and statistical analysis of travel trends in Manatee County and surrounding areas for the Manatee County Tourist Development Council which met Sept. 13 at the county administration building in Bradenton.
In June, research showed a 130.1% increase of visitors over June 2020.
More impressive, Wittine said, is visitors to AMI and the Bradenton area between January and July had surpassed 90% of the total number of visitors in 2019.
And those travelers spent more money than those visiting before the 2020 emergence of the coronavirus, Wittine informed the TDC.
But as the Delta variant spread — and media reports alerted the country to the climbing number of positive cases in Florida with no mask mandates — many would-be travelers put away their suitcases.
As part of a monthly poll of travelers conducted by Wittine’s staff, questions about people’s confidence in traveling to Florida showed “a significant drop-off in positivity … but people are still willing to travel.”
In June, Wittine’s research showed 50.3% of people polled about their comfort and confidence traveling to the area in the immediate future was positive.
In July, as the severity of the Delta variant became more known, that number dipped to 40.1%.
In August, it fell to 28%.
When the research questions turned to optimism about “how close things are to getting back to normal,” 38.6% said it’s close.
When asked about interest in traveling to Florida, 30.3% said they were unlikely to do so.
As Wittine’s research turned to proprietors of short-term accommodations, it showed more people and groups canceling reservations and “slowing due to COVID” out of fear of the climbing rate of positive Delta cases in Florida.
Proprietors reported a lot of last-minute bookings and that they were “busy with sports groups but just as many cancellations due to Delta Variant,” according to Wittine.
Still, they also reported October and November currently look awesome, Wittine said.
In other matters
TDC members unanimously approved recommending county commissioners allocate up to $2 million for resort tax funds for:
- Expansion of the Bradenton Area Convention Center, 1 Haben Blvd., Palmetto;
- Possible parking deck on the west side of the convention center;
- Addition of locker rooms and multi-purpose rooms at the Premier Sports Campus in Lakewood Ranch, as well as a parking lot.
The next meeting of the TDC, which recommends to the county board the spending from the 5% bed tax on accommodations of six months or less, will be at 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 18, at the Manatee County Administration Building, 1112 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.
The TDC includes County Commissioner Misty Servia as chair, vice-chair Vernon DeSear, Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown, Palmetto Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant, Jack Rynerson, Ed Chiles, Eric Cairns, Jiten Patel, and Rahul Patel.
For more information about the TDC, call Monica Luff at 941-729-9177 or email monica.luff@bacvb.com.