Tourists love us
Record number of visitors in 2012 is an encouraging sign
We had a record number of visitors last year and 2013 looks bright.
South Florida was on track to finish 2012 with record tourism, travel leaders said.
Here’s a look at the details, such as who comes, what they like to do and how hotels are faring, both in Broward and Palm Beach counties:
Hotels: Broward has more than 33,000 hotel rooms and Palm Beach County more than 16,000 rooms. Through November, Broward hotels averaged nearly 73 percent full at $114 per night, up 3 percent from a year earlier. Palm Beach County hotels averaged 68 percent full at $140 per night, up 4 percent from a year earlier, according to hotel research group Smith Travel Research.
Broward County tourism profile: In the year ended Sept. 30, Broward County welcomed 12 million visitors who spent $9.8 billion. That’s up from 11 million who spent $9 billion the year before, according to the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Bed-tax collections at hotels and other overnight lodging through October were $3.1 million, up 10 percent over the same period a year earlier, according to government reports.
Broward County visitor
profile: In the 2012 budget year, 9.2 million visitors came from the United States and 2.8 million form outside the country. That included nearly 1 million from Canada and more than 700,000 from Latin America, primarily Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.
Visitors spending included 27 percent for food, 23 percent for room and lodging, 20 percent on shopping and 14 percent for transportation in the destination, the tourism bureau said.
Top activities while visiting the area are seeing friends and
family (49 percent); beach and waterfront (48 percent); shopping (42 percent); dining (41 percent); touring and sightseeing (18 percent).
For overnight visitors, the average age is 49 and average length of stay 4.1 nights, with average spending of $96 per day per person. About 10 percent of visitors are gay travelers, the bureau said.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood
International Airport: Passenger traffic for the year ended Sept. 30 hit roughly 23.4 million, up 0.5 percent. Carriers that launched new routes include JetBlue Airways to Kingston, Jamaica (April), Bogota, Colombia (May) and Providence, R.I. (November); Spirit Airlines to Denver, Colo. (May), and AirTran Airways to San Juan, Puerto Rico (May) and Alaska multi-day cruise passengers in the year ended Sept. 30, up marginally from a year earlier.
Palm Beach County tourism
profile: Detailed research for 2011 shows nearly 5 million visitors either stayed overnight or traveled at least 50 miles to the destination.
Visitors spent more than $3 billion directly, including more than $1 billion on food and nearly $850 million on lodging. In all, tourism generated an economic impact topping $5 billion for the county.
During the recession in 2008 and 2009, tourism spending dropped 12 percent. It recovered fully in 2011, according to a report by research group Tourism Economics, based in Philadelphia.
Palm Beach County visitor pro
file: Visitors average 47 years old and come from wealthier households than the average for all U.S. destinations. About 59 percent come from age 3.5 nights and spend an average $1,400 per visit.
Although many come to visit friends and family, about 60 percent stay in hotels or other paid accommodations. About 12 percent come on business. Visitors like fine dining (30 percent), shopping (26 percent) and spas (10 percent), according to Tourism Economics.
Palm Beach International Air
port: Passenger traffic for the 12 months ending October slipped 3.7 percent to 5.6 million travelers.
Port of Palm Beach cruise traf
fic: The seaport hosted 341,000 passengers on multicruises in the year ended Sept. 30. It also saw the return of day casino cruise service in early November by Jupiter-based Black Diamond Casino Inc.