Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008

Manatee tourism healthy in August

Manatee County tourism experienced the best August in years, collecting a new high in tourist tax dollars.

And hoteliers are expecting a good holiday and winter season.

"We're in a good situation," said Mark Davis, co-owner of the Harrington House Bed and Breakfast on Anna Maria Island. "It's not going to be as bad as what others are predicting."

The county's most successful August in five years brought in $268,341 in tourist tax. The county levies a tax of 4 cents for each dollar spent by guests of hotels, condos, rental houses and campgrounds.

"August 2007 was a record, and I think we've beaten that by about $2,000," said Larry White, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The increase was $2,993, to be exact.

However, White is more impressed by the 12-month comparison of tourist tax collections in Manatee County from 2006-07 to 2007-08.

Manatee County tourism brought in $5,016,790 from September 2007 to August 2008 compared to $5,045,108 for the same 12-month period in 2006-07.

"A year ago on Oct. 1, I made a statement that if we could wind up being equal to that we would have a pretty successful year," White said. "We've had a decent year because there are other counties whose revenues are down much more than that."

Ashok Sawe, co-owner of Palm Tree Villas, said his Anna Maria Island resort saw a slight decrease in tourism this summer compared to last year's but he is seeing good bookings for the coming months.

"I was a little bit down but not by much," Sawe said. "I think it is because of what happened to gas prices during that time."

In June, Manatee County collected $375,016 compared to the $380,587 collected the previous June.

As a result, Sawe said, his resort saw shorter reservations.

"Instead of staying the whole weekend they would come for just one night," Sawe said. "People were watching their budgets."

Although the outlook for the upcoming tourist season looks good, locals are still a little wary in light of the recent financial turmoil.

"I'm cautiously optimistic," White said. "But tourism relies on disposable income."

Sawe said it's too early to tell how the economy will impact his business.

"Our bookings are pretty strong. We haven't seen any cancellations so far," Sawe said. "I think everybody's going to try harder to get tourists to come here under the current economic situation."

Reservations have been strong at the Harrington House Bed and Breakfast, Davis said.

"Our numbers look very good for the coming year," he said. "Our weekends book up very well, our holidays book up very well. People are still going on vacation, they just budget their stays a little better."