Smile, Sarasota.
Or make a duckface.
Or at least stand semi-sideways to the camera in front of the David replica at Ringling College, a lifeguard stand on Siesta Key or your favorite watering hole on Main Street.
You’re among Florida’s top 10 most-Instagrammable cities, according to a vacation-rental organization that recently examined hashtags for 400 cities and towns in the Sunshine State on the ubiquitous social media site.
Though Sarasota was bested by southwest Florida nemesis Naples (No. 3), our little neck of the wood did out hashtag the likes of Key West (16); Gainesville (13 – take that Gators) and that tourism hotspot, Stuart (14).
Orlando, naturally, was tops, followed by Miami, Naples (yeah, yeah, we know), Tampa, Jacksonville, Destin, Jupiter, Hollywood and St. Petersburg.
Winter Park came in just below Sarasota at No. 11. But don’t feel bad. Belleair Shore in Pinellas County came in with four. Not fourth place. Four posts.
In the study by FloridaRentals.com, more than 5 million posts to Instagram including the Orlando hashtag. Sarasota, in comparison, checked in with 770,810.
“Florida is generally a visually appealing and photogenic state, making its destinations the perfect backdrop for Instagram photos and other social media posts,’’ said a spokesperson for FloridaRentals.com, a site that helps vacationers and visitors organizer rental properties.
Beyond counts of social media posts, though, Sarasota County’s remains healthy, generally on par with 2022’s record-setting figures, according to Visit Sarasota.
2023’s overall economic impact of tourism across April-June 2023 (the most recent figures available) outpaced the same period in 2022 -- $792.7 million vs. $759.9 million. Room nights were down slightly but visitor spending was up generally. Visitation was about the same from 2022, 412,000 to about 419,000.
Eric Garwood is the executive editor of the grant-funded Community News Collaborative. Reach him at ericgarwood@cncfl.org
