From June through September, Manatee County hosted an estimated 685,100 visitors.
Isiah Lewis, director of client relations for Downs & St. Germain Research, presented the statistic during his report Oct. 30 to the county tourist development council, which met in Bradenton.
Downs & St. Germain is in its first year collecting tourism data for Manatee. While new to Manatee, the firm has many other clients in the state.
Some other statistics Lewis provided for the June-September period:
- Of the 685,100 visitors, about 67% were visitors paying for accommodations;
- Direct tourism spending was $634,072,400;
- Room nights totaled 851,400;
- Hotel occupancy was about 66.5%;
- Vacation rental occupancy was about 58.6%;
- Overall occupancy was 62.4%;
- Average daily rate for hotels was $137.64;
- Average daily rate for vacation rentals was $403.75;
- Overall average daily rate was $274.45;
The occupancy and rates were based on 5,774 hotel rooms and 5,441 vacation rentals.
Lewis said the average length of stay for the period was 5.4 nights and the typical size of the travel party was three people.
Floridians made up the largest segment of visitors for the summer period, followed by visitors from the Southeast, Northeast, Midwest, West and international. The numbers included:
- Florida, 212,400;
- Southeast, 143,900;
- Northeast, 116,500;
- Midwest, 164,400;
- West, 27,400;
- International, 20,500.
Lewis said top “drive markets” were Tampa, Orlando, New York City and the Washington, D.C., area.
About 52% of visitors drove to the county June-September and 26% flew into Sarasota Bradenton International Airport. About 13% flew into Tampa International Airport and 9% flew into Orlando.
The next TDC meeting will be at 9 a.m. Monday, Dec. 15. at the county administration building, 1112 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.
