Pinellas County may have faced back-to-back hurricanes last year, but that's not stopping the county from achieving record tourism numbers.
In January, Pinellas collected a record $8.3 million in Tourism Development Tax (TDT).
That's also known as the "bed tax" — the 6% surcharge on overnight stays.
That comes just three months after Helene and Milton damaged hotels, restaurants, and businesses along County beaches.
Charlie Justice is the CEO for the Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce.
He said a performance like this is important for such an important industry.
"We have 100,000 families in Pinellas County that rely some way shape or another on tourism for some family income," Justice said. "Tourism is so critical to not just the folks that live on the beach, but it’s critical to our entire community."
Officials with the county's tourism marketing group, Visit St. Pete-Clearwater, told a recent meeting of the Pinellas Tourist Development Council that while some Gulf beach communities saw a year-to-year decline in bed taxes, others actually grew.
TDT collections in St. Pete Beach, Treasure Island and Madeira Beach fell 34.8% from January 2024, while St. Petersburg rose 33.9%, and Clearwater/Clearwater Beach climbed 16% year-to-year.
Pinellas County also reported that hotel revenue grew by 23.7% in January, compared to a year earlier.
While figures are still coming in for February and spring break, Justice is optimistic.
"Right now, we are having an incredible spring, and if you have a facility that’s open, you are busy I can tell you that," Justice said.
This has proven true in previous years, as Pinellas officials point out that they've collected more than $12.9 million in TDT in each of the last three Marches.
And moving towards the summer, Justice predicts this flow of tourism will continue.
"We’ll see our normal boost of in-state, local and regional staycation-type folks that want to get some time on the beach after being done with school," Justice said.
Some of that optimism is based on the fact that hundreds of hotel rooms that were damaged by the storms should soon be back in business.
According to projections, almost 1,000 rooms that are currently closed are expected to reopen by the end of the summer.
He hopes Pinellas County can continue to show tourists "the sun, sand, and strength of our beach community."
