ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Visitor numbers are down slightly in the Bradenton area from last year, but higher room rates are pointing to confidence in the market, Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Elliott Falcione told the Manatee County Tourist Development Council on Aug. 19.
“Confident short-term rental owners are not wanting to compromise those rates because visitation is off a little bit,” he said in his report on tourism. “The overall economic impact is up. Those are great numbers.”
In fiscal year 2023, there were 821,900 visitors to the Bradenton area, and in 2024, that number was 814,100, a decrease of .9%. The total economic impact, however, rose 2.3% from $1,382,734,200 to $1,414,380,000.
“That .9% of less visitors is basically flat,” Falcione said. “We don’t need to be breaking tourism records, this is a nice sustainable 12 months a year without major peaks and lulls.”
In comparing June 2023 to June 2024, the number of visitors to the Bradenton area rose 11.4%, going from 98,200 to 109,400; room nights were up 18.4% from 197,000 to 233,300 and the total economic impact increased 14.9% from $138,837,200 to $159,554,600. Tourist tax collections rose 15.2% from $2,923,352 to $3,367,633.
Those numbers are higher on Anna Maria Island.
In a year-to-year comparison from June 2023 to June 2024, occupancy on the Island increased 2.4% compared to 1.5% on the mainland and 1.7% in Longboat Key. Room rates during that period increased 4.5% on Anna Maria Island from an average $255.25 to $266.86 per night. Mainland rates decreased 1.8% from $148.58 to $145.94 per night and Longboat Key showed a 1.5% increase going from $253.83 to $257.70 per night.
would be catastrophic to the small businesses.”
Falcione said the tourist tax is capped at 6% by state statute.
“There’s no seven penny in the future,” he said. “Six penny is the max that anyone in the state of Florida can levy. I’m not anticipating any of that changing.”
Falcione said other counties – Sarasota, Hillsborough, Orange and Pinellas – currently impose a 6% tourist tax.
“We’re one of the last west coast communities that doesn’t collect six pennies on the dollar,” he said.
TDC Chair Ray Turner said the biggest misnomer is that it’s going on the ballot as a tax.
“People should understand it’s not a tax to them, it’s a tax to short-term rentals,” Turner said.
“When we go to vote, if we go in person, we pretty much know who we’re going to vote for, we want to get in and get out and just the human nature of optics is when you see a tax you may be likely just to say no, and really not read the details of what that tax means,” Falcione said. “But it is a tax that’s not assessed to a resident unless a resident stays in a short-term rental in Manatee County. 99% of the tax collecting would be out of town visitors.”
“We’re not for additional taxes for our local people,” Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown said. “This is not an additional tax for our local people, this is an additional tax for the people coming here. When you drill down, you see what it really is.”
“The way I explain it to the average taxpayer is the tourists are going to be providing things year-round for all of us to take benefit of,” Palmetto Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant said. “It’s improving our community year-round. There are things that don’t go away when the tourists go away that help us to have a nicer, more vibrant community.”
