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Visit St. Pete Clearwater: March TDT receipts strong; hotels steady, vacation rentals recovering
Summary
Presenters reported over $13.7 million in Tourist Development Tax collections for March and said hotel occupancy and rates were broadly consistent with recent years, while vacation rental supply and demand are recovering but have not fully returned since storms.
Visit St. Pete Clearwater staff told the board on June 11 that data through the first six months of the fiscal year show continued recovery across the county’s tourism sectors, with March collections and hotel metrics particularly strong.
“For the month of March, we had over 13,700,000.0 in TDT collections,” Eddie Delgado said during the destination metrics presentation.
Staff said hotel occupancy, average daily rate and revenue per available room for March were near levels seen since 2022, while the vacation‑rental market has seen faster month‑to‑month increases in both supply and demand. Eddie noted vacation‑rental occupancy rose from about 25% in October to nearly 80% by March.
Why it matters: tourism tax revenue (TDT) funds destination marketing and incentive programs. Stable hotel performance supports occupancy‑driven revenue, while the slower restoration of vacation‑rental supply affects room inventory in markets such as St. Pete Beach.
Other details presented:
- Clearwater and St. Petersburg showed year‑over‑year growth in demand, supporting overall county performance.
- St. Pete Beach and the vacation‑rental sector continue to recover more slowly; staff estimated roughly 80% of prior short‑term rental supply may have returned but cautioned precise forecasts are difficult.
- A February drop in reported monthly supply that appeared large in the slide deck was explained as an artefact of fewer days in February rather than an actual sudden loss of rooms.
- Staff said the county has improved its vacation‑rental tracking technology and is developing better dashboards. Eddie said the organization will issue an RFP for a new research provider to expand analytics.
Questions from board members focused on measurement: whether occupancy figures sample only open hotels (staff answered yes) and how much of offline vacation rental inventory will return, with presenters noting that some smaller, owner‑operated units may not come back to the short‑term market.
Staff closed the presentation by noting ongoing work to modernize data sources and to integrate new feeds such as CoStar and Symphony into their reporting.
