ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Visitor numbers to the Bradenton area are down slightly from last year, but higher room rates indicate confidence in the market, Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the Manatee County Tourist Development Council on Aug. 19.
“Confident short-term rental owners are not willing to compromise on these prices because visitor numbers are down a little,” he said in his report on tourism. “The overall economic impact is up. These are great numbers.”
In fiscal year 2023, there were 821,900 visitors to the Bradenton area, and in 2024 there were 814,100, a decrease of 0.9%. However, the total economic impact increased by 2.3%, from $1,382,734,200 to $1,414,380,000.
“This 0.9% drop in visitors is basically the same,” said Falcione. “We don’t need to break tourism records, this is a nice, sustainable 12 months of the year without major peaks and lulls.”
Comparing June 2023 to June 2024, the number of visitors to the Bradenton area increased 11.4% from 98,200 to 109,400; overnight stays increased 18.4% from 197,000 to 233,300; and total economic impact increased 14.9% from $138,837,200 to $159,554,600. Tourist tax revenue increased 15.2% from $2,923,352 to $3,367,633.
On Anna Maria Island these numbers are higher.
Year-over-year from June 2023 to June 2024, occupancy on the island increased 2.4% compared to 1.5% on the mainland and 1.7% on Longboat Key. Room rates increased 4.5% on Anna Maria Island during this period, from an average of $255.25 to $266.86 per night. Rates on the mainland decreased 1.8% from $148.58 to $145.94 per night, and Longboat Key saw a 1.5% increase from $253.83 to $257.70 per night.
would be catastrophic for small businesses.”
Falcione said the tourist tax is capped at 6% by state law.
“There will be no more seven pennies in the future,” he said. “Six pennies is the maximum anyone can charge in the state of Florida. I don’t expect that to change.”
Falcione said other counties – Sarasota, Hillsborough, Orange and Pinellas – currently charge a 6% tourist tax.
“We are one of the last communities on the West Coast that does not collect six pence on the dollar,” he said.
TDC chairman Ray Turner said the biggest misnomer was that the vote was a tax.
“People should understand that it is not a tax for them, it is a tax on short-term rentals,” Turner said.
“When we go to vote, when we go in person, we pretty much know who we’re going to vote for. We want to get in and get out, and it’s just human nature that when you see a tax, you’re probably just going to say no and not really read the details of that tax,” Falcione said. “But it’s a tax that’s not going to be imposed on a resident unless they’re living in a short-term rental in Manatee County. 99% of the tax collectors would be out-of-town visitors.”
“We are not for additional taxes on our citizens,” said Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown. “This is not an additional tax on our citizens, this is an additional tax on the people who come here. When you look closer, you see what it really is.”
“The way I explain it to the average taxpayer is that the tourists are going to provide us with things year-round that we can all benefit from,” said Palmetto Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant. “It improves our community year-round. There are things that don’t go away when the tourists are gone that help us have a nicer, more vibrant community.”
