Local businesspeople realize the value of family.
For some, spring break and Easter are no longer a matter of survival, but island establishments still count on families to drive sales in March and April.
This year, the outlook is bright.
“Back in the day, (March and April sales) were how the island businesses would make their money to survive and stay open all year round,” Feast Restaurant manager Josh Moreland said March 2. “But the island has become so popular that there really isn’t as much of a drop-off throughout the year. You go from busy season straight to busy season.”
Like many other island establishments frequented by tourists fleeing pandemic restrictions or forced to plan vacations in the contiguous United States due to international travel restrictions, the Feast, 5406 Marina Drive, Holmes Beach, was busier than ever in 2021.
The boom, steady throughout the year, culminated in a Christmas surge that forced the restaurant to stop its to-go service and focus on in-house customers on several occasions.
Moreland said he expects March and April to be similarly busy but less hectic as staff has acclimated to higher customer volume, as well as pandemic-related food and material shortages.
Unlike some other upscale restaurants, Feast welcomes larger groups, up to 12 people.
“We’re not South Beach; the bars don’t stay open until 5 in the morning. We’re a little bit sleepier than some other towns, so we draw families,” Wagner Realty property manager Lisa Varano said March 2.
The Wagner island office, 2217 Gulf Drive N., Bradenton Beach, with 110 rental properties, is fully booked in March, mostly by Midwest families who made reservations over the winter, Varano said.
About 65% of the properties are booked for April and Wagner gets calls from prospective May and June renters daily.
Varano said, based on booking volume, she expects the island to be as busy or busier than 2021.
“People are finally free to roam the country. The Canadians are just now being able to get out. I know they’re more winter guests but, you never know, they might become summer guests, too,” she said.
Cedar Cove Resort manager/owner Eric Cairns said March and April will represent one of the best seasons the 19-room beachfront hotel has ever had.
The motel, 2710 Gulf Drive N., Holmes Beach, is booked through March and about 90% full in April and May.
“With COVID, a lot of people are feeling a certain amount of release, to some extent, even though it is in the United States, and they just want to go enjoy a beautiful island,” Cairns said. “Primarily, the island is known for being extremely peaceful and quiet. And families have a tendency to seek that out.”
AMI Beach Weddings stages about three ceremonies a week in March and April, the outfit’s second busiest season behind October and November.
“This time of year, couples want destination weddings. They want their families and friends to come from some cold, snowy place to paradise,” owner Karen Riley-Love said.
About 60% of the weddings Riley-Love orchestrates are second marriages with spring break being an opportunity for brides and grooms with school-age children to visit the island, she said.
Florida Underwater Sports AMI — a dive shop straddling the charter and retail sectors — is heading into its first spring season on the island.
Operating in the S&S Plaza, 5352 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach, they offer charter dive trips five days a week and they’re booked through April, owners Haley and Patrick McGinnis said.
The owners anticipate greater demand for parent-child outings this spring and summer and are building “family days” into their dive boat calendar.
The demand for snorkeling gear — which flew off the shelves last summer — rises with the temps.
“I really think that it’s going to be a lot of people walking in wanting snorkeling stuff for themselves and their kids,” Patrick McGinnis said. “The water is warming up and people want to get in it.”
Beyond the spring
Tourism to the Bradenton area was steady in the years before 2020, when the pandemic resulted in a 10% drop in visitors compared to 2019, according to Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau metrics.
However, 2021 was a boom year.
“In 2021, there was unprecedented pent-up demand from the domestic market because people that had disposable income who couldn’t spend it in 2020 now were able to visit a place like Anna Maria Island,” Elliott Falcione, executive director of the BACVB, told The Islander March 4.
Last year, about 3.4 million people visited Manatee County — 400,000 of whom were short-term renters on Anna Maria Island.
Falcione doesn’t expect the visitor volume to dwindle anytime soon.
“I expect more normalcy, maybe as early as the fall, on the domestic demand — still good but not extreme like it’s been — but then offset by getting back to a normal influx from the European market,” he said.
Data shows that visitors to the area are likely to return and even purchase property in the future.
“Our third-party research tells us that a first-time visitor to the Bradenton area … returns 94% of the time within 12 months,” Falcione said.
“Once they are exposed to the unique characteristics of our destination, they want to come back. And then they normally become a traditional visitor and then eventually transition to real estate owners, business owners,” he said.