Collier County saw tourism strengthen in April

April didn't bring many showers to Collier County. 

But it did bring more tourists.

The county saw a nearly 3 percent increase in the number of tourists staying in hotels and other vacation rentals last month, compared with a year ago. There were 142,500 visitors, up from 138,600 last year, according a monthly report by Tampa-based Research Data Services Inc.

Blame the uptick on the Easter bunny — and a few other factors including more rooms opening up at the JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort, which is still under construction, and the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships.

Last year Easter fell in March. This year it came in mid-April, bringing more visitors here last month to celebrate the candy-laden holiday with friends and family.

"That very clearly had an impact. No question about that," said Walter Klages, the county's tourism consultant, at a Tourist Development Council meeting Monday.

While the JW Marriott has debuted, its conversion is still ongoing, with more rooms opening up as renovations are completed. 

"We are starting to now see the impact of rooms on Marco Island coming back online again," said Jack Wert, the county's tourism director. "It takes a while for that to re-feed itself, but we are definitely seeing that now." 

In its second year the pickleball event, held at East Naples Community Park, drew 1,300 players to town who competed in thousands of matches over seven days. It's the biggest pickleball tournament in the world and it was "highly successful" this year, Wert said, filling up local hotel rooms and generating spending at local businesses.

In April the number of room nights booked rose by 2.3 percent over the year to 222,800. Additionally, visitor spending increased nearly 6 percent to more than $219 million.

Occupancy hit 83.4 percent last month, up more than 1 percent from a year ago. 

From January to April, the county saw 750,500 visitors, for a 1.4 percent increase over the year. Total spending for those same months grew 3.6 percent to more than $980 million.  

"We've had positive growth," Klages said. "We have had positive visitation, and most importantly we've had positive economic impact." 

While there has been tourism growth, the number of room nights booked from January to April fell nearly 2 percent over the year to 974,200. 

After the average daily rates dropped in January, February and March over their same months last year, April brought a 9.5 percent increase to $283.80.  

The county continues to attract a big chunk of its visitors from other parts of Florida — and that market continues to grow. 

Nearly 194,000 Floridians visited the county from January to April, a 6 percent increase over the same months last year. Most of those tourists came from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, and from Tampa, St. Petersburg and Orlando.

"We are a Florida market, and it's a good thing because it insulates us to some extent from other changes," Klages said. 

In the United States, visitation from the Northeast has been stronger this year, but the county has seen fewer people coming from the Southeast and Midwest, which is attributed primarily to the warmer weather up North in the winter that kept people comfortable in their own homes.

The European market, which remains strong, sent more than 107,000 visitors here from January to April. That's up 1.2 percent over the same months a year ago, showing that Brexit — Britain's withdrawal from the European Union — and unfavorable exchange rates haven't hurt tourism here in a big way, Wert said.

Research Data Services does tourism research for nearly a dozen other destinations in Florida, Klages said, and none of them have shown such a strong increase in European visitation.

"Whatever you are doing in the international market, it has been very successful," he said. 

Employment in the hospitality industry remains strong in the county, but it isn't as strong as it was a year ago. As of March, nearly 29,000 were working in the industry, down from nearly 30,000 last year. 

"The most important thing, of course, is employment," Klages said. "Whatever we do has to have a positive employment impact."

By the Numbers

Here's where Collier County's visitors came from in April and how it compares with last year:

Market                                                 Visitors                                 Percent Change

Florida                                                  41,183                                    +6.1 percent

Southeast                                                7,980                                     -4  percent

Northeast                                               32,918                                    -1.5 percent

Midwest                                                  27,930                                    +6.1 percent

Canada                                                     4,702                                    +9.5 percent

Europe                                                     22,515                                   +4.1 percent

*Markets of Opportunity                            5,272                                     -9.4 percent

Total:                                                      142,500                                      +2.8 percent

*Markets west of the Mississippi

Source: Research Data Services Inc.