TOURISM
6
WELCOMING NEWS
TCBusiness.com
JOE SEMKOW
The wreck of the S.S. Breconshire, located off Vero Beach, has become a popular Indian River County tourist attraction for snorkelers, divers and paddlers.
Treasure Coast tourism on the rise
despite resurgence of coronavirus
Tourism and the hospitality industry, in
particular, were hit hard by the pandemic.
When the coronavirus first emerged in
2020, potential visitors to the Treasure
Coast stayed home in droves. Restaurants
and bars closed under lockdown orders
and many did not return even after regulations
were relaxed.
Yet, perhaps surprisingly, Treasure
Coast tourism officials in St. Lucie, Martin
and Indian River counties all report that
the number of visitors vacationing has
bounced back dramatically, especially
since the middle of 2021 and the widespread
availability of vaccines.
Charlotte Bireley, director of tourism
and marketing for St. Lucie County; Nerissa
Okiye, director of tourism and marketing
for Martin County; and Kirk Funnell,
director of tourism and marketing for the
Indian River Chamber of Commerce, all tell
similar stories about the rebound.
Official state statistics are hard to come
by. The last firm number for the economic
impact of tourism on the three Treasure
Coast counties dates to 2019, pre-pandemic.
Statistics from Visit Florida always
show such a time lag, officials said; it has
nothing to do with COVID.
However, all three directors do have access
to county bed-tax receipts and other
data to track visitor trends through 2020,
last year and the first part of this year.
VISITOR NUMBERS JUMP
In Martin County, for example, visitor
growth has increased steadily between 3%
and 4% a year. Yet May 2021 showed an
incredible 365% increase in bed-tax rev- >>
BY ANTHONY WESTBURY
/TCBusiness.com