Chilly weather was bad — and good — for tourist season

Even with the cold snap, tourist numbers were up. LEE COUNTY VISITOR & CONVENTION BUREAU The record cool streak, coupled with a recovering economy, might have derailed this year’s busy season. But by most accounts, it didn’t affect the number of out of town guests who flocked here during the crucial winter months, fueling Lee County’s $2.9 billion tourism industry.

“Our feeling is that even with the cold snap, visitation is the same as where it was last year,” said Toni Westland, supervisory manager at the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island. From October through March last year, it had about 400,000 visitors. “Those cold and rainy days did bring a lot of people into the education center.”

There were 404,146 visitors in Lee County during January 2010, the latest numbers available from the Visitor & Convention Bureau. That’s an increase of 6.2 percent from January last year. The largest group of visitors in January, 84,581 of them, were Midwesterners — a 41 percent increase from last year.

Yet, the chilly weather was a boon for some businesses.

“This is the best tourist/snowbird season I’ve seen in three years,” said Chuck Stevens, general manager at Bass Pro Shop at the Gulf Coast Town Center mall. “When the weather’s bad, they can come to a place (that) reminds them of the beach.”

Tom Cronin, owner of the Shell Factory and Nature Park in North Fort Myers, said January and February sales for 2010 beat last year. “The prognosis is it’ll stay fairly good,” he said. “Because of the cool weather, it’s kept people indoors, so that’s helped us.”

But the cool weather meant they spent less time on boat trips and at outdoor venues. Guided tours at the indoor/outdoor Edison & Ford Winter Estates were down 12 percent this January compared to last year.

“When the days are good we’ve been as busy as we’ve ever been, but unfortunately, the weather has kind of hurt us this year for sure,” said Darin Goldberg, manager of El Rio Golf Club in North Fort Myers. “I’ve been here my whole life and I don’t really remember a winter like this. That really hurt us.”

Tourists and snowbirds also aren’t spending quite as much while they’re here — $13 million less this January than last year, when they spent $300 million on things like meals and shopping.

“Overall, people throughout the economy have tightened their purse strings, so vacations may be a day shorter or they may not be dining out in expensive restaurants,” said Tamara Pigott, executive director of the Lee VCB. “We’re very pleased to see that visitation is up.”

For the hospitality industry, which employs one in five Lee County workers, season could be “really hit and miss,” said Sarah Moen, a bartender at the Surf Club on Fort Myers Beach. “People are out and about, they’re here, but they’re not spending.”

There is also a glut of hotel and motel rooms, about 2,700 of them built in the last three years, driving down average rates from $123.98 last January to $116.39 this year.

“It’s going to take a while to absorb that inventory,” Ms. Pigott said. “It’s going to take us awhile to get back to the occupancy numbers we’d all love to see.”

Fred Hirschovits, owner of the Holiday Inn Fort Myers Airport-Town Center and Hampton Inn & Suites Cape Coral, takes an optimistic view of the hotel room oversupply.

“Yes, there’s been growth in supply in the last two years, but it shows that demand has continued to grow, so it’s a positive trend,” he said. “I think people are going back to staying in hotels rather than stay with family and friends. I think the gap between the demand and the supply is going to continue to shrink.”

Better deals for visitors

In response to the weak economy, many clubs, restaurants and hotels have offered discounts or specials to ease the strain on guest’s pocketbooks.

“People focus on those places that are showcasing some of their meals with certain specials,” said Amanda George, a manager at Bistro 41 in the Bell Tower shops. “We’ve noticed a lot of people from out of town that want to try the place and the food, and the special allows them to come on in and hopefully become a repeat customer.”

Hotels have been particularly competitive with special pricing.

“Instead of people booking way ahead we’re doing a lot of last minute booking, people calling around for deals and waiting for specials,” said Marti Gardner, manager at Silver Sands Resort on Fort Myers Beach, which has 21 rooms. “If you don’t have them, someone else does.”

Optimism at the Airport

Major airlines are adding flights at the Southwest Florida International Airport, a sign they feel the economy is recovering. Frontier Airlines came back with service to Denver, announcing they will continue service throughout the summer months. Air Canada returned with service to Montreal. WestJet, which normally flies to Toronto once a week, will make three trips per week. Air Berlin is adding a fourth flight per week to Dusseldorf.

“Those are the kind of indicators you want to see, that they’re making a commitment,” said Victoria Moreland, the regional airport’s director of public relations. “They don’t want to operate those very expensive airplanes if in the long term they don’t think it’s a good investment.”

From her office on April 1, a perfectly clear and temperate day in Fort Myers, she watched a 747 coming from the Northeast land and taxi to the gate.

“A day like today, all is well with the world,” she said. “This is the day I look out at the runway seeing the airplanes come in and, yep, people are real happy to come in here. Especially coming in from New England.”

All is well, also, at the Florida Repertory Theatre in downtown Fort Myers.

“We seem to be in the midst of one of the best years we’ve ever had,” said Jason Parrish, The Rep’s associate director. “We’re having a year of record attendance.”

They have had two shows in the last two years written up in the Wall Street

Journal, both rave reviews. And their strategy of offering more comedies during the recession seems to have worked, Mr. Parrish said. Theater goers have spilled over into downtown’s restaurants.

“I know the theater gave us more business than they ever have,” said Pam Lemmerman, who runs the French Connection Café.

Up next: summertime

Because of last year’s week economy, Lee County had more instate visitors during the summer. The Visitors & Convention Bureau targeted these travelers with advertisements and expects many will return this year.

“This past year we definitely saw our instate travel numbers higher than the year before,” director Ms. Pigott said. “I think with some of the economic constraints Floridians were facing they decided to take some vacations in the state. We anticipated that based on the economy and we really pushed hard. I think it really paid off. I think we gained some market share on instate travelers this past calendar year and I’m hoping we see that trend continue.” 