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Tourism is rebounding in Manatee County

Tourism rebounding in Manatee County

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Business, Tourism.

MANATEE COUNTY – Tourist Development Council members received some encouraging news just before Christmas.

During this morning’s meeting, held at the Bradenton Area Convention Center, representatives from Visit Florida and Research Data Services gave TDC members updates, and the news was good – tourism numbers are going up despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Jen Carlisle with Visit Florida said that while the numbers they’re seeing are an overall 37% decrease in tourism from the same time last year and a 57% decrease in tourism from Canada, travel increased in the second and third quarters of the year by 71%. Carlisle attributed the increase in numbers to the Visit Florida-led marketing efforts.

Beginning in September, she said the organization targeted Florida residents, urging them through marketing to take a trip in their own state. In October, the target area of that effort increased to include drivable markets within a 700-mile radius, such as Atlanta, Charlotte and Nashville.

From these rebound advertising campaigns, Carlisle said that Visit Florida has had 300 million impressions and that 70% of people who saw the marketing spots were more likely to visit the state than they were beforehand. And while international travel is still largely on hold due to travel restrictions, she said that Visit Florida is still marketing in other countries to keep the destination at the forefront of potential visitors’ minds when restrictions are lifted. Elliott Falcione, director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said that his organization also is making sure that they continue marketing in other countries, particularly in Europe and Canada, to make sure that the Bradenton area is on visitors’ minds when they’re ready to book future travel plans.

Speaking on behalf of the central European market from Germany via Zoom, Dorothea Hohn said that her research has found that people are ready to travel to the United States again, particularly to beach and outdoor destinations like the Bradenton and Gulf Islands area, however, she added that those visitors are pinning their plans on the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine and the lifting of international travel bans and restrictions.

Anne Wittine of Tampa-based Research Data Services, the county’s tourism consultant, gave a presentation on the current state of tourism in the area, noting that the number of visitors is down only 10.3% for the year so far from 2019. The economic impact of tourism, – the amount of money put into the local economy by tourists – is down 13.2% from the previous year. And while occupancy is down 14.3% from the previous year, Wittine said that may largely be due to a lack of reporting from privately-managed vacation rental properties. She said that the majority of the occupancy numbers received come from hotels, motels and professionally-managed vacation rental units, and that it’s hard to get numbers from individual vacation rental owners or those rented through services such as Airbnb.

Some of the challenges facing the local tourism industry, Wittine said, are that visitors are waiting until the last minute, often one to seven days out from their expected travel time, to book vacations and that visitation from Canada and Europe, where travel restrictions are in place, is too small to count at this time. Another issue is that cancellations of trips are going up as the number of locally-reported COVID-19 cases increases.

And while the number of people feeling more confident and safe about traveling is steadily increasing, Wittine said one key element for the local tourism businesses is to provide good information on what is open and what kind of experience travelers can expect when they arrive at their destination, information that is often difficult to come by online.

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Tourism remains down in pandemic

Tourism remains down in pandemic

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Business, Tourism.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – The coronavirus pandemic continues to keep out-of-state and international tourists away from Manatee County, but Floridians are still coming, the Manatee County Tourist Development Council learned at its Oct. 19 meeting.

During the 11 months ending in August, 35.9% more Floridians visited the county compared to the same period in 2018-19, said Anne Wittine, of Research Data Services, Manatee County’s tourism consultant.

However, she added, Florida visitors stay for a shorter time, typically weekends, and spend less money than out-of-state or international visitors. Those markets have contracted during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.

While August visitation was up 12% over last year, “this doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods,” Wittine said.

Due to the pandemic, “We still don’t have an international market,” Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) Director Elliott Falcione told the TDC.

Potential visitors were starting to show more comfort with traveling until October, according to a traveler sentiment survey, Wittine said; a survey between Sept. 28 and Oct. 11 shows that people are losing confidence in the safety of traveling.

“This may have been a blip or the beginning of a concerning downward trend,” she said, adding that those surveyed said it is too difficult to find out the COVID-19 rules in the destinations they are considering.

To combat fears of traveling during the pandemic, the CVB plans to launch a new digital tourism marketing campaign, “Unwind with Peace of Mind.” The slogan replaces May’s “Make a Break For it” campaign, Falcione said.

The campaign is aimed at baby boomer couples and families with annual incomes of at least $100,000 from Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina, among other places.

In other business, TDC members unanimously voted to recommend that the Manatee County Commission allocate up to $425,000 in tourist tax funds to promote the Under 18 Baseball World Cup championship next September, traditionally a down month for tourism.

Young baseball players from 12 countries would play at LECOM Park and Pirate City in Manatee County and Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota County.

With appearances by baseball stars including this year’s World Series Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, the event is expected to produce an economic impact of $6 million, primarily to mainland businesses, Falcione said.

“It’s so important that we stay on the pedal with these kind of events,” he said.

COVID-19 heavily impacting tourism

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Business, Tourism.

The coronavirus pandemic has sickened the local tourism industry, but local officials plan to ask the state for a shot in the arm by moderating some vacation rental restrictions, the Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) learned on Monday.

April visitation to the county was down 82.3%, occupancy was down 83.4% and the average daily rate was down 26.4% from the previous April, said Anne Wittine, of Research Data Services, the county’s tourism consultant.

However, she said, “It is a testament to the strength of Manatee’s tourism industry… that year to date we are only down 12.1% in visitation and 11.7% in economic impact.”

A new traveler sentiment survey indicates that optimism about traveling has been down due to concerns about health, she said.

The first week of June, 34% of those surveyed said they thought the state was reopening from COVID-19 shutdowns too quickly; the second week of June, as coronavirus cases spiked, that sentiment increased to 42%.

People surveyed are feeling less safe from the first to the second week of June about dining in a restaurant, shopping, participating in outdoor recreation, going to indoor attractions, visiting friends and relatives, going to the beach, going to theme parks and visiting a new destination, she told the TDC.

Among the biggest concerns about traveling during COVID-19 were not being able to return home, being quarantined away from home and flight cancellations.

A survey question, “Is this a destination you would be interested in visiting?” resulted in a loss of confidence from 28.9% the last week in May to 22.7% the second week of June.

However, Wittine said there is reason for optimism that sentiments are turning around.

“We asked people what one word is that would describe their feelings about tourism,” she said. The first week of June, people were saying, “Absolutely no,” but by the second week, the majority sentiment had changed to “cautious,” she said.

Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) Director Elliott Falcione said that many visitors to the area are making 12- to 14-hour drives to come here with their family, a slight difference in the county’s typical visitor profile of older couples.

Manatee County Commissioner Carol Whitmore commented that the survey shows the hesitancy of visitors to come to the county, probably due to the spike in COVID-19 cases.

“It’s telling me that people aren’t ready yet, but I think we need to stay in their faces,” she said.

CVB to request change in COVID guidelines

On Tuesday, June 16, the CVB was scheduled to ask the Manatee County Commission to amend county vacation rental guidelines on COVID-19 to allow visitors from certain states that are currently prohibited, Falcione said.

“It will give our vacation rentals a lot of flexibility,” he said.

Under current guidelines, visitors from states that have 700 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people are restricted, he said.

If the commission approves the amendment, the county administrator could ask the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation to eliminate that restriction and instead limit the restricted areas to those identified by the governor as high risk (currently New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Louisiana).

Reservations would be required to be longer than the quarantine period established by the state and groups of visitors would still be limited to no more than 10 people, or fewer depending on municipal occupancy limits, according to the recommendation.

The next TDC meeting is scheduled on Monday, Aug. 17 at 9 a.m., tentatively at Holmes Beach City Hall.

In other business:

  • John Horne, of the Anna Maria Oyster Bar and the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, reported that some local restaurants have not yet opened for various reasons, including concerns about being profitable at 50% capacity. He thanked Gov. Ron DeSantis for allowing expanded outdoor dining, municipalities for relaxing their criteria on signage to allow restaurants to advertise that they’re open, and the CVB for lobbying to get short-term vacation rentals open.
  • Mark Stuckey, of the Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport, reported that traffic has increased from 10,000 to 40,000 passengers since COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, but traffic is down 21% year to date. Airlines are requiring passengers to wear masks at all times and the airport has installed Plexiglas windows and increased sanitization measures to protect passengers, he said.
  • CVB website manager Emily Knight reported that the CVB stopped advertising for tourism on its website on March 16 due to European borders closing, causing website traffic to drop; traffic rebounded when beaches were reopened in May. A COVID-19 page was added to advise prospective visitors about updates and a “Bring Bradenton Home” page was added to let people virtually experience the destination. In April, a message was launched that “The Bradenton Area Misses You Too.”
  • Sean Walter, of the CVB’s sports marketing program, reported 40 canceled events due to COVID-19, a loss of $35 million. However, 20 tentative events have been scheduled at Premiere Sports Campus from 2020-2022. Visitation outreach will focus on drive markets due to visitors’ concerns about flying, he said.
  • Michele Schulz, of the Manatee County Tax Collector’s Office, reported that her office has posted a message on its website in conjunction with the CVB that “Tourism is back!” The office sent emails to more than 5,000 people and letters to nearly 2,500 to refer them to the website, since many were not visiting it due to not having to pay tourist taxes while vacation rentals were closed.
Bradenton Anna Maria Island Longboat Key

TDC recommends opening vacation rentals

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Business, Tourism.

MANATEE COUNTY – The Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) took the first step on Monday to reopen vacation rentals countywide, including on Anna Maria Island.

TDC Chair and Manatee County Commissioner Misty Servia persuaded fellow TDC members to recommend that Manatee County commissioners remove the COVID-19 prohibition on short-term vacation rentals.

Under Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plan effective Monday, county commissioners can submit a plan to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation for approval to allow short-term vacation rental properties to reopen to guests. The plan would likely require working with owners and managers of vacation rentals to come up with strategies to meet the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) requirements for disinfecting and cleaning of units between guests.

Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), said that he’s been working with other west coast Florida county leaders to help develop a plan for vacation rentals that would provide some consistency for owners and visitors.

Servia added that coordination with the leaders of the three Anna Maria Island cities, where many of the county’s short-term rentals are located, would be a key component to success. Falcione said that no matter what plan is enacted, it will be up to the city leaders to oversee the operation of the vacation rental properties.

Local vacation rental owners who spoke during public comment said they are ready to reopen their units to visitors and are willing to abide by any necessary regulations to keep their properties safe for renters.

The recommendation passed in a unanimous vote. Members Ed Chiles, an Island restaurateur, and Wayne Poston, mayor of Bradenton, were absent from the meeting.

Marketing during COVID-19

The new short-term marketing recovery plan, debuted by Falcione and Dave DiMaggio, has two implementation phases. Phase one involves bringing visitors in from drivable markets, including Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward counties and Atlanta with plans to expand the advertising area up as far north as Memphis and Nashville and as far west as New Orleans.

Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward counties are the worst three counties in the state for COVID-19, with nearly 27,000 cases, according to the Florida Department of Health.

Manatee County has 867 cases as of Monday.

DiMaggio said that when deciding which markets to spend advertising dollars in, the overall health of the area and whether it’s a COVID-19 hotspot will be considered first along with how economically stable the target markets are.

The second phase involves bringing airline passengers back to the area. DiMaggio said that the success of phase two involves coordinating and sharing data with local airports, including Tampa International Airport and Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. For some of this data, he said he would be looking closely at the information provided by Anne Wittine of Research Data Services, the county’s tourism consultant, to see how comfortable people feel about travel and flying to their vacation destinations.

Wittine presented the results of a travel sentiment pulse poll which showed numbers trending upward over the past two weeks toward people being more comfortable with travel and ready to take a vacation. While 52% of the people polled are concerned about reopening the state too quickly, Wittine said that 15.9% of people say that travel is essential to them and they’re ready to get back out there. Of the people who participated in the poll, Wittine said she’s seeing a trend toward people’s intent to travel increasing in the late summer months, specifically July. She added that of the people willing to travel, 78.2% of them feel most comfortable traveling by car, which lines up with the first phase of the TDC’s new marketing plan.

DiMaggio said the second phase includes continuing to target drivers and targeting fliers from the Midwest and northeast of the United States.

He said he expects that some segments of the market will be slower to recover, including people who travel for sporting events, work conferences and travelers from the United Kingdom and Central Europe.

Falcione said that he would be utilizing a month-to-month budget approach, periodically re-evaluating how and where the CVB’s limited advertising budget is spent to determine where those funds will have the most impact to help get the local tourism economy back up and running.

The TDC next meets June 15 at the Bradenton Area Convention Center in Palmetto.

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COVID-19 worse than red tide for tourism

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Business, Tourism.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – COVID-19 has overtaken red tide as tourism’s worst nemesis in Manatee County.

For the first time since October 2018, when a persistent red tide was plaguing Anna Maria Island, tourism is down on all three Island cities and Manatee County, according to March tourist tax statistics just published by the Manatee County Tax Collector’s Office.

Tourism in Anna Maria is down 46% from March of 2019, Bradenton Beach is down 64%, Holmes Beach is down 46% and Manatee County overall is down 52%.

The last time all four municipalities were down at the same time was in October 2018, three months into a red tide that began locally in early August 2018 and originated in late 2017 in southwest Florida.

The October 2018 red tide numbers were considerably less grim than March 2020’s COVID-19 numbers, with Anna Maria down 1%, Bradenton Beach down 24%, Holmes Beach down 16% and Manatee County overall down 3%.

March’s drastic downturn is in sharp contrast to February’s upturn in all four municipalities, with Anna Maria’s tourism numbers up 30%, Bradenton Beach up 4%, Holmes Beach up 45% and Manatee County up 16%.

Manatee County’s 5% resort tax, or tourist tax, is collected from owners of accommodations rented for six months or less who charge the tax to their renters, in most cases, tourists.

About 50% of the tax proceeds are allocated to Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau tourism marketing efforts, with 20% allocated to beach renourishment. The tax also funds tourism-related attractions such as the Bradenton Beach and Anna Maria piers.

Manatee County totals include Anna Maria Island cities, Bradenton, the portion of Longboat Key within Manatee County, unincorporated Manatee County and Palmetto.

Beach Rafts 2

Coronavirus may be increasing tourism

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Business, Tourism.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – While COVID-19 is causing canceled cruises, the shutdown of Disney World and widespread anxiety about venturing far from home, it may also be causing an unexpected uptick in Island tourism.

Some tourists have canceled their plans to visit the Island, but others – including stranded cruise ship passengers – are coming unexpectedly, said Terri Kinder, president of the Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce.

“A lot of these people already planned their vacation, and the rest of the family has already set aside the days, so they have to go now,” she said, adding that vacancies still exist as of this weekend.

Mid-March is the peak of the Island’s tourist season, and crowded beaches, congested roads and an increase in spring breakers caused by the coronavirus-inspired extension of spring break attest that visitation is at normal to above-normal levels.

“We’re not alarmed at this time of the year,” said Elliott Falcione, director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

In fact, he said, people in densely-populated cities like New York and Boston are saying, “‘We’re going to get out of here and come to a safe place.’ They believe the beaches are safer than the dense city.”

European visitors are booked for summer and fall, Falcione said, adding that the CVB’s London office is currently monitoring the perception of prospective overseas visitors.

“We’re going to take this one day at a time,” he said.

Some airlines are addressing the health crisis by offering hospital-caliber filtration systems on board the aircraft, Falcione said.

“If I had to fly, I wouldn’t be concerned,” he said. “Just keep your hands from your face and keep your hands clean.”

While some visitation has been lost with canceled airline flights, it has been regained or exceeded by more people driving to Manatee County, he said.

“People within driving distance who had plans to fly are coming here,” agreed Bill Annis, of Island Vacation Properties, adding that the company has had some cancelations from other countries.

Although rental agents are fielding calls and questions all day long, “It hasn’t been horrible for us,” he said, with March booked solidly. “Overall, it’s leveling out for us.”

“It’s a little bit of a hodgepodge,” said Lisa Spehar, of Island Real Estate. People within driving distance from Tampa and Orlando are calling to book rooms because kids on spring break are unexpectedly out of school longer due to coronavirus concerns, she said.

But fears about the virus and its impact on the stock market caused at least one visitor who returns to the Island annually to cancel, she said, while some visitors who normally book a year in advance have said they don’t want to commit to visit next year because of uncertainty about the virus.

“We believe our customers will come back,” Falcione said.

A tourism update is scheduled for the Monday, March 30 Tourist Development Council meeting at 9 a.m. at the Honorable Patricia M. Glass Chambers at the Manatee County Administration Building, 1112 Manatee Ave. W. in Bradenton.

Wish You Were Here

New tourism campaign: ‘You’ll be back’

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Business, Featured, Tourism.

BRADENTON – “You’ll be back.”

That’s the new message that Manatee County tourism officials will be sending to visitors, the Tourist Development Council (TDC) learned Monday.

The county’s current marketing brand (“Real. Authentic. Florida.”) will not change, said Dave DiMaggio, of Aqua, the county’s tourism marketing consultant.

The brand shouldn’t change unless the community it represents changes, agreed Elliott Falcione, director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).

“Do you expect the characteristics of Anna Maria Island to change? Hopefully not,” he said.

The new slogan will not only target first-time visitors, but continue to target tourists who already have been to the destination, DiMaggio said.

Unlike catch and release fishing, he said, “We’re not going to let them go.”
Most tourism destinations advertise “Please come visit,” he said, adding “We’re going to move beyond that,” persuading visitors that their first visit won’t be their last.

“We’ll be telling them before they come, while they’re here and after they leave that they’ll be back,” DiMaggio said.

To that end, Aqua plans to create for the county an online streaming radio station so that visitors can stay connected to the destination after they return home, he said. In addition, a new e-commerce site will offer merchandise branded with the county’s tourism brand and slogan, and a new mobile app will promote upcoming events. Another feature will count down the days, hours and minutes until a visitor’s vacation begins. A new magazine, Bradenton Gulf Islands Today, will feature stories about events, restaurants, visitor profiles and other information twice a year.

Beyond tourism, the goal is to get visitors to buy property or businesses in the county, DiMaggio said.

“After the third visit, they’re fantasizing about moving here. After the fifth visit, they’re actually looking for real estate or businesses,” he said.

Facebook presence growing

The county’s social media presence also will expand this year, said Kevin McNulty, president and CEO of Netweave Social Networking, the county’s social media consultant.

Netweave will add YouTube advertising to the county’s tourism tools and make its social media accounts compliant with federal ADA regulations to assist the disabled in accessing digital information, including providing alternative text for images and captioning videos, he said.

The county’s Facebook audience increased by 20% in 2019 over 2018, approaching 70,000 followers, McNulty said.

2019 tourism update

Manatee County tourism reached a milestone in 2019, with just over $1 billion in economic impact for the first time, said Anne Wittine, of Research Data Services, the county’s tourism consultant. The figure represents a 5% increase over 2018.

Visitation was up 8% for the year, with occupancy up 2.2%, primarily from the Florida, Midwest and European markets, she said.

December 2019, economic impact jumped by 14.2%, visitation was up 11.2%, occupancy increased by 8% and the number of licensed transient lodging establishments increased by 3.6%.

County to consider record high tourism budget

County to consider record high tourism budget

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Business, Featured, Tourism.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Tourism officials voted to recommend a record $13.2 million marketing budget for the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) today for fiscal year 2020-21.

The budget – up 67% from five years ago – is aimed at attracting more customers for tourism-based businesses.

The largest overall expenditure is on sports marketing – more than $2.1 million over two years, not including another $900,000 in capital improvements for baseball stadium LECOM Park (McKechnie Field).

Other high-cost items are online advertising and marketing, marketing in Central Europe and the United Kingdom, and advertising agency services.

Budget funding is generated by Manatee County’s 5% tourist tax, paid by visitors to lodging establishments. The county spends about half of the tax proceeds on tourism marketing; 20% of the taxes are allocated to beach renourishment. Other recent uses have included rebuilding fishing piers in Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach.

Highlights of the proposed 2020-21 BACVB budget:

Sports marketing $2.1 million

Online/digital marketing $1.3 million

Advertising agency $1.2 million

Online/digital ads $1.1 million

LECOM Park $900,000

Florida Railroad Museum $700,000

Central European marketing $688,714

Allegiant Airlines initiatives $630,000

United Kingdom marketing $628,693

TV/radio ads $458,000

Tourism consultant $310,000

Website management $300,000

Concert series $200,000

AMI Chamber ads $90,000

Magazine/newspaper ads $82,050

Source: Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau

The Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) voted to recommend the budget to Manatee County commissioners for final approval.

The marketing budget targets baby boomers, who can afford Anna Maria Island’s vacation rentals, CVB Director Elliott Falcione said.

Strong sports market

The TDC also voted to recommend $220,000 this year for the Sports Commission, which manages sports marketing.

Sporting events, such as the World’s Strongest Man competition on the Island last weekend, is an important visitor draw to the area, according to Falcione, who said that the television exposure will raise the destination’s profile.

Drawing about 1,000 people, “It was really, really successful,” he said, adding, “The market share on this event is priceless.”

Falcione said his staff will meet with Island government officials to “see what went well and what went not so well,” and discuss how to make traffic flow better. During the finals on Sunday, the Manatee Beach parking lot was full and cars were parked along Manatee Avenue to the Kingfish boat ramp and bumper to bumper down residential streets near the beach.

“It’s not our community, it’s the residents’ community,” he said.

The county is hosting 105 sporting events in fiscal year 2018-19, including gymnastics, tennis, golf and rowing, according to the CVB.

New marketing campaign planned

In August, a new marketing campaign for the Bradenton Area will be announced, said Dave DiMaggio, of Aqua, the county’s advertising and public relations firm.

Known now as “the Bradenton Area – Bradenton, Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key,” the destination uses the tag line “Authentic Florida” to describe itself, he said. Some critics say the increase in tourism in recent years is fundamentally changing the advertised character of the Island.Bradenton Anna Maria Island Longboat Key

Recent campaigns include “Craft your own vacation” and “We’ve got the cure.”

Marketing efforts will be intensified in pre-summer, summer and fall, the least busy times of the year, he said.

With the exception of the flagging UK market, the outlook for this summer’s tourism looks good, said Walter Klages, of Tampa-based Research Data Services, the county’s tourism consultant.

Despite the rising number of vacation rental units, which increased by 8.3% to 9,097, occupancy only decreased by 1.1% in April 2019 compared to April 2018, he said, adding, “We are having a very good year.”

Tourist tax collections in the three Island cities were up between 5-21% in April and up between 6-9% in March, the height of the tourist season, according to the Manatee County Tax Collector’s office.

Island expenditures

The board also approved a recommendation for an additional $435,000 for the Anna Maria City Pier.

$1.5 million in tourist tax funds, matched by the city, already is allocated to rebuild the pier, damaged by age and Hurricane Irma in 2017.

Likewise, the city already is paying half of the additional $869,000 needed, TDC Chair Carol Whitmore said.

It can afford to pay the other $435,000 too, Falcione said, but could better use the money on water management issues and multimodal trails.

Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy told the board that the city has selected a local contractor with local subcontractors to build the restaurant and bait shop at the end of the pier, which is scheduled to open by March 2020.

The TDC also voted to recommend $28,000 to upgrade and maintain the Anna Maria Chamber of Commerce website.

The chamber is the official visitors center for Anna Maria Island, Falcione said. The funds will contribute to improvements that include meeting industry standards for best website practices, he said.

County collecting tourist tax from most Airbnb owners

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Business, Tourism.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – The Manatee County Tax Collector told concerned county commissioners last week that vacation rental owners using Airbnb to rent their local properties online are paying their fair share of tourist tax.

“Tourist tax dollars across all vacation rental platforms, including Airbnb, are being collected and remitted,” Manatee County Tax Collector Ken Burton Jr. told commissioners in a detailed presentation by Burton and his staff.

The report was prompted by a January county commission vote to investigate taking the responsibility for collecting Airbnb tourist taxes away from the tax collector and transferring it to the Florida Department of Revenue (DOR). Commissioners had expressed concern that a 2018 lawsuit that Burton’s office filed against Airbnb to enforce collections was moving too slowly.

The county’s 5 percent tourist tax is collected from owners of accommodations rented for six months or less who charge the tax to their renters, in most cases, tourists. About 50 percent of the tax proceeds are allocated to Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau tourism marketing efforts, with about 20 percent allocated to beach renourishment and the rest to statutorily-defined uses that benefit tourism.

In 2015, the DOR and Airbnb agreed that Airbnb would collect sales tax from its users in all 67 counties, but would collect tourist tax in only 26 counties, said Michele Shulz, Burton’s director of Field Services and Collections. In the remaining counties, including Manatee, Airbnb rental property owners are on the honor system to remit the 5 percent tourist tax directly to the tax collector.

Burton chose to sue Airbnb rather than sign an agreement that would have required him to waive his ability to audit Airbnb records to identify owners and forced him to discharge past due taxes and penalties owed by Airbnb and all its clients, said the tax collector’s attorney, Janelle Esposito, of the Esposito Law Group.

Entering into such an agreement with Airbnb would violate state law and result in less collection of the tourist tax, she said, adding that the lack of an agreement “does not mean we are not collecting the tax.”

Enforcement

The tax collector has 7,063 vacation rental accounts registered, Shulz said.

Hotels and motels are easy for the tax collector to identify and collect tourist taxes from, but it’s not as easy to determine whether condos (53 percent of the county’s vacation rentals), single family homes (27 percent), multi-family homes, apartments, duplexes, mobile homes, rooms and travel trailers are being rented to vacationers.

Burton’s office uses several methods to uncover vacation rental owners who are dodging the tourist tax, including Harmari, online software that assists in identifying short-term rental properties.

Harmari found that in January in Manatee County, 99.83 percent of vacation rentals using all vacation rental platforms already were registered with the tax collector.

“They only found six new accounts,” Shulz told commissioners.

When Harmari specifically looked at Airbnb rentals on March 1, the program found that 78 percent of Airbnb properties in the county were registered. Out of 210 properties identified, Harmari found 46 unregistered accounts, whose owners have received letters from the tax collector requesting compliance.

If rental property owners do not comply, the tax collector can place a lien on a rental property and garnish income.

“We have a high collection rate,” Shulz said.

Airbnb is growing locally as well as internationally. In 2015, Airbnb accounted for .6 percent of the $11 million in tourist taxes collected in the county, she said. By 2018, Airbnb accounted for 4.2 percent, or about $620,000 of the $14.6 in tourist tax collections.

Airbnb is the second-largest online rental platform used in Manatee County, with about 2,300 properties. The most popular is VRBO, with about 4,750. Flipkey is in third place, with about 2,200, according to the tax collector’s office.

COVID-19 impact on 2020 visitation slight

Red tide down, tourism promotion up

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Business, Tourism.

Updated Feb. 14, 2019 – BRADENTON – Local officials are accelerating tourism promotion efforts to overcome the stigma left by red tide since it appeared in area waters in August 2018.

Red tide was one reason that tourism decreased by .8 percent last year, Walter Klages, of Tampa-based Research Data Services, told the Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) on Monday.

But compared to other Florida destinations, Manatee County is doing well, said Klages, Manatee County’s tourism consultant.Bradenton Anna Maria Island Longboat Key

Tourism’s economic impact on the county approached $1 billion in 2018 – $973,798,800 to be exact, he said.

While red tide has decreased locally in the past month, “The stigma continues to haunt us,” he said, adding that letting people know about the improvement is “an important part of the message we are promoting.”

The last time the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported red tide in area waters was Jan. 11. Respiratory irritation has been reported each week since then; winds can blow red tide to areas where the water is clear.

County accepting TDC applications

Manatee County is now accepting applications for a vacancy on the Tourist Development Council (TDC), a citizens advisory committee that makes recommendations to county commissioners on the expenditures of tourist tax revenues.

The nine-member board is seeking one member who is an owner/operator/general manager of a motel, hotel, recreational vehicle park or other tourist accommodation in the county subject to the 5 percent tourist tax in Manatee County. Eligible applicants also must be registered voters of Manatee County.

Applications are due by July 10 and may be found online.

The TDC meets on the third Monday of every other month at 9 a.m. at various locations throughout Manatee County. The term for the vacant seat expires June 30, 2021.

For more information, call Monica Luff at the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, 941-729-9177 ext. 3944  or email her at Monica.Luff@mymanatee.org.

Another reason for the “contraction” in tourism is that the number of vacation rentals, including hotel and motel rooms, condominiums and homes, has increased, causing a 5.8 percent decline in occupancy, he said.

A slowdown in the growth of the county’s tourism-related social media audience also can be traced to red tide, consultant Kevin McNulty said.

“The entire state had impacts from the red tide,” he said. “Because of red tide we had to pause a lot of advertising.”

“We stepped down for almost two months but we are ramping up hard,” including publicity campaigns in New York and the UK, said Elliott Falcione, director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).

Increased traffic on area roads is a good indication that seasonal tourism is thriving again, Klages said.

TDC Chair Carol Whitmore agreed, saying that one day last week, it took her an hour and a half to get from the Longboat Key bridge in Bradenton Beach to Publix in Holmes Beach.

Airbnb tourist tax collections

Whitmore, also a county commissioner, told TDC members that the commission is considering following the lead of other Florida counties that collect tourist taxes from Airbnb vacation rental owners through the state Department of Revenue (DOR), rather than the county tax collector.

She recounted an online search by a relative that found four such vacation rentals on Anna Maria Island, all sleeping 16 people and charging at least $15,000 a week.

“We are not getting that revenue,” she said, noting that one rental is not even fully constructed yet.

The same problem exists in the 11 tourist destinations that Klages works with, he said.

A Manatee County ordinance requires the tax collector to collect the 5 percent tourist tax from owners of accommodations rented for six months or less who charge the tax to their renters, in most cases, tourists.

With no practical way to identify rental owners using Airbnb to offer rental lodging on websites and mobile apps, Manatee County Tax Collector Ken Burton Jr. sued Airbnb in April 2017 to enforce collections.

Airbnb owners are on the honor system to report and pay their tourist taxes.

Manatee County commissioners unanimously voted on Jan. 29 to investigate working with the DOR to collect tourist taxes from vacation rental owners using Airbnb, rather than wait for the lawsuit to conclude.

In other business:

  • The TDC learned that a concert series at The Center of Anna Maria Island will conclude on April 1 with the Marshall Tucker Band.
  • The council was updated on the eight-story Sheraton hotel that is planned at the Bradenton Area Convention Center in Palmetto, which will include retail stores and may include a second hotel and an outdoor event area. “This is the most important project we have on the table,” Falcione said, adding that the project is unique from St. Petersburg to Fort Myers.
Jane Seymour

Jane Seymour unveils sculpture in Bradenton

Written by Tom Vaught on . Posted in Archives.

BRADENTON – A well-known actress unveiled a sculpture at Riverwalk this morning, discussing what the work means to her and hoping it could have the same meaning to others.

Jane Seymour, whose artwork is on display at The Studio at Gulf and Pine in Anna Maria, visited the area with the help of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and Realize Bradenton.

Jane Seymour – Tom Vaught | Sun

Bradenton Mayor Wayne Poston and a number of dignitaries spoke after the unveiling of the sculpture, which has the lines of two hearts open at each end, like her Open Hearts by Jane Seymour® jewelry line.

The open heart is a state of mind to Seymour, who urges people to keep their hearts open and love will come. It also says love has no boundaries and flows unconditionally.

Seymour has a website that provides an interactive forum for people to discuss how keeping an open heart has changed their lives.

The Manatee School for the Arts provided big band music for the event and two students, a middle school girl and a high school senior, talked about what happened when they opened their hearts, bringing a tear to Seymour’s eye.

Seymour is best known for performances in the James Bond film “Live and Let Die,” the film “Somewhere in Time” and the television series “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.” She has earned an Emmy, two Golden Globes and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In addition to being a celebrated actress, Seymour is also a noted author and painter.

Bradenton Anna Maria Island Longboat Key

New tourism initiatives address red tide challenges

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Business, Tourism.

ANNA MARIA – Despite red tide in area waters since early August, tourism grew in Manatee County during the fiscal year October 2017 through September 2018, according to the county’s tourism consultant.

“If you consider the challenges we have had, and to some extent, still have, the data for the fiscal year really are impressive,” Walter Klages, of Research Data Services, told the Manatee County Tourist Development Council on Monday, Dec. 10.

Visitation grew by 1.6 percent over the last fiscal year to 724,200 visitors, “a significant number,” Klages said, producing an economic impact near $977 million.

Occupancy was down nearly 14 percent in August from August 2017 and down nearly 22 percent in September from September 2017, but red tide was not the only reason, he said, pointing out an increase in available vacation rentals.

“Looking ahead, we have challenges with the environment,” Klages said. “The tide has a significant impact, but looking down the road, I think our markets are strong and next year we will see significant growth again. I don’t think the stigma is going to carry very significantly into the season.”

Carol Whitmore

“This red tide has caused a blip,” TDC Chair Carol Whitmore said, adding that her home’s canal had dead fish in it three weeks ago, but no longer has an odor.

“Our Island is starting to fill up, and that’s a good thing,” she said.

Anna Maria City Pier progress

Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy updated council members on the progress of the construction of the new Anna Maria City Pier; the historic pier was demolished after damage done by Hurricane Irma in 2017.

The city has a contract to build the pier platform, partially funded by up to $1.5 million in tourist tax funds, he said, adding that materials will be barged across Tampa Bay, alleviating road congestion on Anna Maria Island.

The platform is contracted for completion by Aug. 26, 2019, Murphy said, with the first pilings scheduled to be driven next month.

The restaurant and bait shop are scheduled to be completed by January 2021; an unavoidable delay resulted from permitting problems with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA, he said.

New tourism initiatives

Several initiatives are underway to promote more than just Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key beaches to visitors.

Ed Chiles
Ed Chiles

Former Bond girl and star of “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” Jane Seymour is scheduled to have a cookoff with TDC member and Island restaurateur Ed Chiles next month while visiting the area for an undisclosed Riverwalk event, said Elliott Falcione, director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).

Four “unplugged” concerts, including one by folk singer Judy Collins, are in the planning stages at The Center of Anna Maria Island in Anna Maria and the Manatee Performing Arts Center in Bradenton, he said. The TDC voted to recommend that Manatee County commissioners approve the plan on Tuesday, Dec. 18.

The council also approved a recommendation to the commission that $50,000 in tourist taxes be allocated to a Women’s Entrepreneurial Empowerment Summit at the Bradenton Area Convention Center or IMG Academy.

“We are starting to brand the Bradenton Area as a viable conference destination,” Falcione said.

Sean Walter, the CVB’s sports commissioner, reported that in fiscal year 2017-18, the county hosted more than 90 events in 16 sports, ranging from Frisbee to hockey.

Sports further diversifies the destination so that environmental impacts from red tide are not as devastating, Falcione said.

“What a way to finish the year,” Chiles said, citing the new developments, including news that Allegiant Air will add nine new nonstop destinations at Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport.

“It’s been tough but there is reason to be optimistic,” he said. “We could use a little good news out here, and we have gotten a lot of great news today.”

Bradenton Anna Maria Island Longboat Key

Tourism winter cure campaign set to launch

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Business, Featured, Tourism.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Manatee County’s new tourism marketing campaign will run from November through the winter tourist season to counteract the loss of visitors during the red tide bloom that began locally in August.

The strategy is contrary to what Bradenton Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Director Elliott Falcione had promised Anna Maria Island residents requesting relief from burgeoning tourism, he told the Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) on Monday.

But with the recent loss of visitors, “I think it makes sense,” he said. “Then next year we will get back to normal.”

The impact of red tide on Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key tourism has been significant, said the county’s tourism consultant, Walter Klages, of Research Data Services.

The number of visitors dropped from 48,700 in August 2017 to 42,000 this August.

“That’s a pretty significant impact and decrease,” he said.

Room nights decreased by 9.3 percent, economic impact dropped 11.4 percent and occupancy dropped 13.7 percent. The number of Floridians visiting the area was down nearly 23 percent in August, he said.

Tourism statistics are not yet available for September.

Red tide is a passing thing, Klages said, adding that visitors who have been to the area before will not be deterred from visiting again.

The county tourism agency no longer will respond to media requests to comment on the red tide, Falcione said.

“If you talk about economic loss, you create the perception in the market that we have a problem,” he said.

Monday’s red tide forecast from the University of South Florida/Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides is for low levels in Anna Maria Island waters and medium levels in Longboat Key waters through Wednesday, Oct. 17.

The cure

Local tourism marketers will use the new international digital marketing campaign to geotarget selected visitors, Falcione said.

The premise is based on ailments and a cure.

Got pale-a-tosis? Need-a-vacation-itis? Fam-nesia?

People searching online for vacation destinations will find cures for these conditions in Bradenton, Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key, according to the county’s marketing agency, Aqua.

The cure for ailments like seeking a suntan, needing a break from work, or wanting more family time is a vacation prescribed by a “doctor” who details the symptoms of the ailments on three videos that soon will be available at the county’s tourism website.

The campaign will include a sweepstakes with prizes such as beach vacations.

The county’s previous marketing campaign was “Craft Your Own Vacation.”

Visit Florida helping red tide counties

Manatee County’s TDC is eligible for Visit Florida’s $500,000 Tourism Recovery Grant Program for Red Tide to assist counties affected by red tide, Visit Florida representative Jen Carlisle told the TDC.

Grant funds will assist the TDC with increasing visitation once red tide has subsided through advertising, direct mail, brochures, website development and other related projects.

Grant applications will be accepted until the red tide has subsided, she said.

Blue Community

“Red tide is a naturally-occurring phenomenon. Of that there is no doubt,” TDC member Ed Chiles said, adding that there also is no doubt about what feeds it.

Addressing environmental issues including harmful algal blooms like red tide and blue-green algae, shoreline restoration, seagrass, stormwater management, septic systems, sewage treatment and others is vital to tourism, he said.

“We ought to start pounding on the table,” Chiles said. “We’ve got to get with it.”

With that in mind, the TDC unanimously recommended that Manatee County commissioners use $25,000 in tourist tax funds to hold two training seminars on the Blue Community One Planet Living program at the Studio on Pine Avenue in Anna Maria this fall and winter.

The program will detail methods to increase tourism profits while protecting the environment, according to promoter Dave Randle of the University of South Florida.

“I think it is something that can differentiate ourselves,” Chiles said. “This is about Anna Maria Island being recognized internationally for what we’ve done,” such as Green Village on Pine Avenue.

In other business:

The TDC voted unanimously to recommend that Manatee County commissioners approve up to $5 million in tourist tax funds to improve drainage in the parking lot at Coquina Beach, a county park.

The project is estimated to cost $5.94 million, with other agencies contributing the difference. Bradenton Beach reduced permit fees for the project from $30,000 to $500.

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Bradenton Anna Maria Island Longboat Key

CVB tracks red tide’s influence on tourism

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Business, Tourism.

Red tide caused Manatee County to lose 17.5 percent in economic activity in August, according to a report by the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).

The number translates to a reduction of nearly $4.4 million in direct visitor spending and a $6.9 million economic impact deficit, according to the report.

More than 79 percent of vacation rental property owners interviewed reported that their reservations for the next three months have decreased compared to this time last year, and that September business continues to be impacted by red tide.

The report also describes in detail how visitors in major feeder markets perceive red tide in Manatee County, based on media coverage of the bloom in their locations.

U.S. market

From June 1 to Sept. 14, about 1,200 stories were published related to red tide and Manatee County, the report states, with most coverage in the Tampa/St. Petersburg market (289 mentions) and more than 70 national media mentions.

Coverage peaked on Aug. 13 following the publication of an Associated Press article headlined “Devastating toxic algae bloom plagues Florida’s Gulf Coast,” according to the report, which notes other major media reporting on the bloom, including CNN, The New York Times, ABC News, The Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.

Another spike in coverage occurred Aug. 22-23 with more than 100 stories, many related to an Associated Press story headlined, “Florida red tide: Wildlife advocate stunned by toll on fish,” the report states.

By Sept. 1, media interest in red tide had waned significantly. Since then, roughly 100 mentions have been tallied, with about 75 percent running in the Tampa/St. Petersburg market, according to the report. Only four national stories ran from Sept. 1-14.

The decrease in stories since Sept. 1 suggests that visitors perceive that red tide has receded, and affected areas are by and large “back to normal,” according to the report.

“Provided conditions remain the same or improve, little red tide coverage is expected, though ‘Coast is Clear’ initiatives and messaging in the upcoming months will aid in efforts to steer this conversation,” the report states.

United Kingdom market

The red tide on the west coast of Florida hit the UK news mostly during August, the report states. The impact on marine life and beach conditions were the main issues covered, and it was widely reported that the algae is a naturally-occurring phenomenon.

During August, a small number of UK tour operators contacted the CVB for an update on red tide conditions, and some said that visitors were cancelling or changing their vacation dates, as the beach was a main factor in their holiday plans, according to the report.

From Sept. 4-14, the CVB noted no UK media coverage of red tide. “Unless the situation worsens, we don’t anticipate further coverage and we don’t anticipate it being a lasting memory in people’s minds,” the report states.

Central Europe market

The CVB’s German office asked Central European tour operators how the red tide on Florida’s Gulf coast influenced their clients’ travel to Florida.

Top tour operators that sell the Bradenton Area said they had a few customer complaints from guests in the destination who wanted to change their booking to a different location, but the majority said there was not a large negative impact on bookings, the report stated. Many said that they have more customers planning to visit the area compared to last year.

Visitors expressed more concerns about hurricane activity since last year’s Hurricane Irma, according to the report.

Renewed marketing

The CVB launched marketing promotions this week aimed at attracting couples to Manatee County.

“Relax & Connect” touts romantic beach accommodations, shopping, a spa visit and a gourmet meal on Anna Maria Island for a few days or a week.

“A great night for a date night” offers a romantic evening for two at Pier 22 in Bradenton, a sunset cruise with Kathleen D. Charters and a stop at The Doctor’s Office on Anna Maria Island for cocktails.

“Popping the question in paradise” suggests five locations as engagement destinations, from restaurants to preserves.

“Six ridiculously romantic places to say ‘I do’ ” sells six locations in the area as wedding destinations, from elegant to offbeat.

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Bradenton Anna Maria Island Longboat Key

County approves $500,000 more for red tide beach cleanup

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Business, Featured, Tourism.

BRADENTON – Manatee County commissioners unanimously voted on Sept. 11 to take another $500,000 from tourist tax funds and use it to remove dead fish killed by red tide from local beaches.

Red tide is causing concern for people with Florida vacation plans, and some are considering cancelling their reservations, according to the Better Business Bureau.

The bureau reports an increase in complaints filed against businesses offering vacation rentals during the current red tide bloom, which reached Anna Maria Island on Aug. 3.

Consumer complaints allege issues with receiving refunds following cancellation, and businesses not disclosing potential red tide issues.

The bureau recommends knowing your consumer rights, beginning with understanding the terms and conditions of your contract for a vacation rental, or the refund policy for a hotel reservation.

Establishments are not required under Florida law to issue refunds for prepaid reservations, according to the bureau.

Communication with the business is key, the bureau advises; talk with the management to resolve your issues. Most businesses want to keep you as a customer and will work with you to find a reasonable solution.

If you’re having a problem with your reservation visit www.bbb.org/howtocomplain for more information.

The vote raises the total tourist tax funds allowed for beach maintenance to $1,250,000 a year.

“We don’t know how long this red tide event is going to go on,” Elliott Falcione, director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), told commissioners.

“We are standing down on marketing right now in certain areas,” he said. “We believe if we were putting our brand out there, our ROI (return on investment) would be next to nothing and we could be deceiving the marketplace.”

Marketing funds saved during the red tide outbreak will be used when the crisis is over to double down on the area’s tourism message, countering negative publicity in the (UK) Daily Mail and other publications, he said, adding that a $1 million contingency fund is also available to be used for marketing after a disaster, including hurricanes and red tide.

County commissioners amended the Tourist Development Plan in 2014 to allow $100,000 per year in tourist tax funds for maintenance of county-owned beaches. The following year, commissioners increased the funding to $750,000. Last month, the Manatee County Tourist Development Council voted unanimously to recommend the commission approve the additional $500,000.

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