tourism

A recent AAA survey found enthusiasm for travel is still down almost a year into the coronavirus pandemic.

The state tourism-marketing agency Visit Florida posted preliminary figures from the fourth quarter and for the full year late Monday, showing 86.714 million visitors to the state during 2020. That was the lowest annual total since 2010.

Media reports suggest the White House is considering domestic travel restrictions to control spread of a new COVID-19 variant. Gov. Ron DeSantis say this would be unconstitutional.

People have been drinking more during the pandemic. Almost a quarter of adults in the Keys were already heavy or binge drinkers. That's the highest rate in Florida. Now some in Key West are rethinking the hard-partying scene for a post-pandemic future.

"People are tired of being at home," one travel advisor says as an industry decimated by the pandemic begins to see small signs that a recovery might be on the way.

While leaders push back against a federal recommendation to close bars and halt indoor restaurant dining, Florida’s tourism-marketing agency is looking west as the industry continues trying to rebound during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With first-time unemployment claims spiking last week, a top Florida economist is cautioning that the vital, but battered, tourism industry is in for another difficult spring because of COVID-19.

To spread the word about limiting the spread of coronavirus, the Florida Keys tourism agency is turning to some famous faces — one in particular: Ernest Hemingway.

Florida took in $3.27 for every dollar the state spent on tourism marketing over a three-year period, before cuts in funding for the agency and before COVID-19 sent the travel and leisure industries into a tailspin, according to the report released Monday by the Legislature’s Office of Economic & Demographic Research.

Data from the Census Bureau paint a grim picture of the pandemic’s impact on the economy. According to the bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, 26% of Floridians reported being late on rent, worse than the US average, while 12% reported not having enough to eat.

Bars and alcohol sales in Key West will close at 10 p.m. on New Year's Eve and through the weekend. A federal judge Tuesday denied a challenge from a resident who said the curfew violated his Constitutional rights.

Florida’s tourism industry is showing signs of recovery. But it’s not expected to reach pre-pandemic levels for another year.