- December 20, 2024
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While the number of overall travelers to Sarasota County dropped in fiscal year 2024 compared with the previous year, tourism officials say they are optimistic about 2025 due to a number of factors. The list includes: Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport expansion, the return of business travelers, European tourists and sporting events.
Nearly 2.9 million people visited Sarasota County in fiscal year 2024, according to Downs & St. Germain Researchers, which was contracted by Visit Sarasota County (VSC) to evaluate its data. That was a 5.6% decrease year over year, the researchers say. Downs & St. Germain executives were among a group of speakers at VSC's Indicators & Insights Summit held Nov. 19 at The Ora in Sarasota. The event provided a review of 2024 data and a forecast for 2025.
“Right after the pandemic, there was a really big boom of visitors…spending as much as they possibly could, visiting as much as they could,” said Erin Dinkel, director of research for Tallahassee-based Downs & St. Germain Research.
“But what we're seeing right now across many destinations, especially Florida destinations, is that this trend of visitation is normalizing a little bit, where people are coming back to their normal trends of visitation, and it's not that high,” Dinkel said.
The decrease in visitors in 2024 had a far-reaching impact, Downs & St. Germain Research shows. That includes:
The outlook is stable for 2025, with costs rising but at a less dramatic rate, according to Joseph St. Germain, president and partner of Downs & St. Germain Research.
“As we look at domestic travel, one of the things that we do continue to see is that people plan on taking trips,” St. Germain said.
“People have decided they're going to still travel, but they might not have as much money to do it,” he added, noting this is the trend nationally, not just in Sarasota.
One key boost for the area is the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, which is expanding with a new terminal and with more flights.
“Many of you are aware of all of the phenomenal growth at the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport,” VSC President and CEO Erin Duggan told the audience. The airport’s growth has been “monumental” not only for tourists but also for locals, she added. “It's made it a lot easier to fly places direct and affordably."
On the day of the event, Allegiant announced it was adding eight direct flights to SRQ starting in February, enabling SRQ to serve 67 destinations.
A bright spot in the forecast is business travel, St. Germain said, with an increase of 7% in business travel expected for 2025.
Since about 30% of business travel does “involve a leisure component,” St. Germain said, there is an opportunity for Sarasota County to promote its beaches, shopping and restaurants.
Sarasota County had a successful run in early 2024 as far as business meetings. Booked meeting groups in the first quarter of 2024 topped $2 million, according to Visit Sarasota County Group Sales Manager Shantel Norman. She said the agency plans to hire a meeting sales rep to increase outreach and responsiveness.
Looking ahead, Norman said, her team helped The Ritz-Carlton to secure 1,800 room nights for a group in 2025 in Sarasota.
International travel is “slightly behind pre-pandemic levels, but it's coming back,” St. Germain said. Higher costs of flights and accommodations made travel “a little less appealing” in the last year; however, he said in 2025, he anticipates “continued growth of international travel.”
To promote Sarasota among Europeans, Visit Sarasota County has account managers handling both the UK and German markets. Each had positive trends to report.
Research shows 42% of adults in the UK are expected to take a holiday abroad in the next year, with 32% planning an overseas beach holiday, according to Muna Abanour, UK trade account manager for GoshPR. UK arrivals in the United States are forecast to be 4.5 million for 2024, up from 3.5 million in 2022, Abanour said.
German visitors to the United States will top 2 million in 2024 and are expected to reach the level of 2018 and 2019 with 2.06 million arrivals, according to Ilona Arnold, German trade account manager for Lieb Management.
Since many UK and German travelers use travel agents, Abanour and Arnold have been spreading awareness among agents and tour operators about Sarasota.
