BRADENTON – Featuring two new members and a new chairperson, the reconfigured Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) recently met for the first time this year.
On Feb. 24, the council welcomed Holmes Beach City Commissioner Dan Diggins and Palmetto Marriott Resort Managing Director Tony DeRusso to the council now chaired by County Commissioner Amanda Ballard and steered at times by Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (BACVB) Executive Director Elliott Falcione.
Topics of discussion included the post-hurricane decline in tourist development tax revenues, post-hurricane tourism marketing efforts and a request to use $570,000 in tourist tax revenues for the Gulf Islands Ferry operations.
Tourist tax revenues
Michele Shulz, Director of Field Services and the Collections Department for the Manatee County Tax Collector, provided an update on the tax revenues generated by the 6% tourist development tax levied on hotel, motel, resort and short-term vacation rental stays (including Airbnb and Vrbo rentals) of six months or less in Manatee County. A significant portion of tourist tax revenues is generated on Anna Maria Island.
In November, Manatee County voters approved increasing the 5% tourist tax to 6%. The increase took effect on Jan. 1 and is expected to generate an additional $7.8 million in tourist tax revenues during the current fiscal year. The 6% tax is paid by lodging guests, collected by the lodging providers and remitted to the tax collector’s office monthly.
TDC members review proposed tourist tax expenditures and make recommendations to the county commission that controls the use of the tax revenues, which, by state statute, can only be used to promote tourism and fund tourism-related projects and improvements.
Last year, tourist tax revenues exceeded $30 million for the first time.
“Out of 67 counties, we feel like we’re now in that elite group,” Shulz said. “That’s a testament to Elliott and all the work he’s been doing.”
She then addressed the hurricane impact on tourist tax revenues and said the county collected $1.21 million in November and $1.83 million in December.
“For November, we were down 17.71% and for December we were down 16.6%. I think January through April’s really going to tell the tale on how those areas are recovering that were really hard hit,” she said.
Shulz said the tax collector’s office had 8,645 active tourist development tax accounts in its system. She said about 100 accounts were deactivated between October and December because account holders were unable to rent their properties but 200 new accounts opened up.
“It’s a very fluid number. In a week, we might have a different number,” she said, noting that short-term rental units continue to come online as repairs are completed.
Comparing January 2024 to January 2025, Shulz said tourist tax collections countywide decreased about 9.3%, from $2.64 million to $2.4 million. She said the 1% tax increase and tourist tax revenues generated elsewhere in unincorporated Manatee County helped lessen the revenue gap.
Post-hurricane marketing
Falcione said he’s often asked why the BACVB continues to market Anna Maria Island and Bradenton when these areas are already so well-known on a national and a global level.
“My consistent response is to prepare for the next adversarial occurrence,” he said.
He mentioned the severe red tide outbreak in 2017 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 as past adverse events that have impacted tourism.
Regarding the back-to-back hurricanes, Falcione said, “It could have been a lot worse.”
BACVB Marketing and Communications Director Kolby Gayson then discussed the tourism-related marketing strategies employed as recovery efforts continue.
“These storms left us with a wake of damage we had not seen before. It left our barrier islands with devastation we have never experienced,” Gayson said.
Gayson said she and her team focused on three main points: Perception, messaging and how to recover lost visitation.
Gayson said two particular images symbolize the hurricane damage on Anna Maria Island: the fallen yellow multi-story home in Bradenton Beach and the destroyed Rod & Reel Pier in Anna Maria.
“This yellow house was on its pillars after Helene. Milton came through and knocked it off. Still to this day, people love to take pictures of it. This one image continues to perpetuate a negative image of destruction,” Gayson said.
She then referenced the Rod & Reel Pier that was badly damaged by Hurricane Helene and destroyed by Hurricane Milton.
“You have a landmark that also is no longer in existence. That is something that has an emotional connection to visitors. When they see that it’s gone, they associate that with the state of the entirety of the destination,” Gayson said.
She noted the county used and uses social media influencers and out of state media outlets and publications to help promote the current status of the Island and the Island businesses.
Ferry expenditures
The TDC members unanimously recommended county commission approval of Falcione’s request to spend up to $570,000 in tourist tax revenues for county-contracted Gulf Islands Ferry operations.
Falcione seeks $350,000 for operational costs for the ferry operations that will soon include a larger third ferry boat that’s expected to begin service in July. He also seeks $120,000 to upgrade the Riverwalk Day Dock in downtown Bradenton for the overnight docking of the third ferry boat and up to $100,000 for renovations to the floating dock at the Bradenton Beach Pier that serves as a ferry landing.
When welcoming Diggins to the council at the beginning of the meeting, Falcione referenced the ongoing efforts to implement a Gulf Islands Ferry stop in Holmes Beach.
“Dan was an incredible steward working with our team to try to accommodate the water ferry in Holmes Beach. He hasn’t given up yet and we haven’t given up yet. We’re excited that you’re on the TDC,” Falcione said.
Ferry service to Anna Maria is discontinued until the hurricane-damaged City Pier is repaired and reopened or the county installs a standalone ferry landing between the pier and the Lake La Vista jetty.
Related coverage:
Diggins, DeRusso join Tourist Development Council
TDC discusses post-hurricane marketing
