Teaching Piano Lessons for 80 years. At 95-years old, Elba Ruilova still teaches piano lessons four afternoons a week from her west Tampa home. She began teaching when she was 15.
TALLAHASSEE — Eager for a silver lining in Florida's sputtering economy, Gov. Charlie Crist seized on one Thursday.
Flanked by his top economic development adviser and tourism chief, Crist crowed over an estimate that 23.8-million visitors came to the state in the first three months of the year, a 3.4 percent increase over the same period in 2007.
That was good news for the state's big tourism industry, which saw a 1.7 percent visitor decline in 2007, the first year-to-year drop since 2001. Crist and Visit Florida chief executive Bud Nocera credited the state's first national network TV advertising campaign promoting Florida's charms to tourists.
"Obviously, what they are doing is working. It's making a difference," Crist said.
The number of Canadian visitors was up 6.6 percent for the first quarter of 2008, according to Visit Florida, the state's tourism marketing agency. Research also showed a 10.5 percent increase among Floridians traveling in-state, or 1.2-million more in-state trips. That's a direct result of people adjusting their travels closer to home, in part because of high gas prices.
"We, like the state tourism industry, have adjusted our marketing efforts to be responsive to these changes in the marketplace," Nocera said.
Tourism businesses still face a tough year selling the state to vacationers, with the onset of another hurricane season, wildfires on the Space Coast, soaring gasoline prices and a generally sour economy.
Even with the surge in tourism, sales tax collections — nearly a third of which are paid by nonresidents — are way below projections. They were $47-million off the mark in March. April figures, due out soon, are expected to be as bad, if not worse.
Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.
Home for the holiday
High fuel prices are prompting many Americans to reconsider their Memorial Day travel plans, AAA says. The automobile club released a survey Thursday projecting that the number of Americans traveling more than 50 miles from home over the long holiday weekend will fall nearly 1 percent from last year. Other travel costs are also on the rise, AAA said. The average Memorial Day weekend air fare will rise 8 percent from last year, to $179. The average cost of a rental car will jump 45 percent from last year, to $45 a day.
[Last modified: May 16, 2008 03:18 PM]
Comments on this article
by Ted
May 16, 2008 3:18 PM
Where are all these people suppose to park in Clearwater beach?
by JT
May 16, 2008 10:40 AM
Good point whocares. We need to charge the same taxes those from NY NJ MA etc are accustomed to and the revenue problem is solved. Florida is way too cheap to visit compared to other locales. No need for that, especially during the winter months.
by Ray
May 16, 2008 10:36 AM
Just wondering how the Republicans doctored up these figures.
by RICK
May 16, 2008 10:34 AM
I am one of them tourists.My whole family came we almost cancelled because of the gas ,but most of us booked from last year. but already all but 2 of fifteen have decided not to come next year,the gas is way to high and also the flights are going up.
by Clifford
May 16, 2008 10:32 AM
whocares, 2 percent of 23 million dollars is 460,000. Your property taxes was 460,000? If you don't care about Florida's economy and how tourism affects it, maybe you should move to a small city with no tourism and see how your community grows!
by whocares
May 15, 2008 9:03 PM
Big deal if we had raised the sales tax two percent the 23 million visitors could have paid my property taxes
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