TOURISM
BED TAX BY COUNTY
ST. LUCIE COUNTY
2019 2020 Change
Jan $457,803 $490,713 7.2%
Feb $540,245 $542,291 0.4%
Mar $619,337 $305,847 -50.6%
Apr $357,783 $231,562 -35.3%
May $282,053 $190,114 -32.6%
Jun $260,603 $203,152 -22.0%
Jul $305,470 $233,041 -23.7%
Aug $268,363 $213,440 -20.5%
Sep $196,109 $229,526 17.0%
Oct $263,081 $215,663 -18.0%
Nov $315,149 $237,276 -24.7%
Dec $343,873 NA NA
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY
2019 2020 Change
Jan $329,042 $369,264 12.2%
Feb $366,284 $405,972 10.8%
Mar $433,650 $276,338 -36.3%
Apr $260,332 $66,242 -74.6%
May $199,496 $140,249 -29.7%
Jun $205,553 $187,853 -8.6%
Jul $207,795 $187,663 -9.7%
Aug $165,236 $178,100 7.8%
Sep $126,170 $164,363 30.3%
Oct $174,246 $184,708 6.0%
Nov $230,364 $209,445 -9.1%
Dec $285,854 NA NA
OKEECHOBEE COUNTY
2019 2020 Change
Jan $41,904 $49,818 18.9%
Feb $41,337 $50,596 22.4%
Mar $42,840 $42,472 -0.9%
Apr $25,139 $12,457 -50.4%
May $24,907 $16,330 -34.4%
Jun $24,469 $18,877 -22.9%
Jul $17,798 $18,625 4.6%
Aug $16,434 $17,519 6.6%
Sep $19,336 $18,161 -6.0%
Oct $29,891 NA NA
Nov $33,935 NA NA
Dec $46,615 NA NA
MARTIN COUNTY
Jan $314,417 $273,496 -13.0%
Feb $266,941 $294,386 10.2%
Mar $358,978 $411,190 14.5%
Apr $483,840 $321,766 -33.5%
May $257,172 $83,822 -67.4%
Jun $185,549 $128,201 -30.1%
Jul $173,419 $194,993 12.4%
Aug $175,538 $144,246 -17.8%
Sep $178,421 $153,062 -14.2%
Oct $152,975 $191,703 25.3%
Nov $161,694 $131,737 -18.5%
Dec $182,023 $147,412 -19.0%
Source: Florida Office of Economic Research and the counties
1
2019 2020 Change
TCBusiness.com 7
Harold H. “Buzz” Smyth, owner of the hotel and
restaurant business at Sunrise Sands Beach Resort,
says he works to make his guests safe.
up the exterior of the cottages and prep the
place to be as anti-COVID as possible.
Virus-resistant protocols at Island View
include the use of UV and ozone machines
after guests check out, and keeping a cottage
empty for several days before the next guests
check in.
Tourism directors in each county said no
hotels or lodging establishments were forced
to shut permanently because of the virus.
A good portion of Treasure Coast jobs are
supported by tourism, according to figures
from Visit Florida. In 2018, the latest year
that figures were available, 10.6% of jobs in
Okeechobee relied on visitor spending, followed
by 9.8% in Indian River, 7.5% in Martin
and 7.1% in St. Lucie.
After the grippingly bad numbers in the
spring, area tourism officials downgraded their
estimates for visitors and bed tax revenue, but
have been pleasantly surprised by higherthan
expected figures in recent months.
“We were afraid our tourist dollars would
hit rock bottom but we came in quite a bit
above what we were projecting,” Sharie
Turgeon, tourism coordinator in Okeechobee
County, said.
HOTEL OCCUPANCY DOWN
Travel reluctance, especially for longdistance
trips, cut 2020 hotel occupancy rates
in Indian River, which fell to 53% from 65% in
2019 as Martin went to 51% from 67%, and St.
Lucie to 53.5% from 67%, according to STR, a
hospitality industry consultancy. Okeechobee
does not contract with STR.
At Sunrise Sands Beach Resort across from
Fort Pierce South Jetty Park, business from
March through October was 40% of year-earlier
levels for the 23-room hotel and its large
restaurant. Buzz Smyth, owner of the hotel
and restaurant business at Sunrise Sands, said
things have picked up a bit since October
but by late January were still only half of
what they were a year earlier.
Smyth said he so far has been able
to keep all 35 full- and part-time workers
employed through the coronavirus
pandemic.
There are containers of Clorox disinfecting
wipes at every turn on the
property. “We want to make sure the public
feels safe. All workers wear masks to
protect themselves and the customers,”
Smyth said.
All rooms open to the outside, eliminating
the interior spaces where experts
say COVID-19 is more likely to spread.
About 90% of the restaurant’s seats are
in the open air, Smyth said.
Like most hotels in the area, Sunrise
Sands has seen a paucity of guests from
up north.
Smyth said, “Seventy percent of our
clientele comes from Palm Beach and
south of there.”
A greater reliance on South Florida
visitors in 2020 was seen throughout
the Treasure Coast as a fear of flying has
caused significant shifts of where our
visitors come from.
“Mostly, it’s a drive market,” Funnell, of
Indian River County, said.
SHIFT IN CUSTOMER BASE
Martin County hires a consultant, Arrivalist,
which reports each month which
U.S. metropolitan areas are sending visitors
to the county. The most recent month
with data available was September.
In September 2020, the first two
spots were Miami-Fort Lauderdale and
Orlando, both of which showed declines,
down 23% and 54%, respectively,
compared to the number of visitors from
these places in September 2019.
However, those declines were not as
sharp as the New York City metro area,
down 90%, Philadelphia, down 87%, and
Atlanta, down 75%, according to the visitor
origin study. New York’s metro area fell
to seventh-most visitors to the country in
September, from third-most a year earlier.
West Palm Beach, in the county of Martin’s
southern neighbor, rose to third-most visitors,
from 10th a year earlier. The number
of visitors from each of the top 10 origin
points in 2019 fell in 2020, except for West
Palm Beach, Martin’s Arrivalist data shows.
/TCBusiness.com