Tourism numbers show travelers are coming back

CLEARWATER —Data from St. Pete-Clearwater International and April's bed tax collections show the tourism industry in Pinellas County is bouncing back after last year's devastation.    

The number of passengers traveling through St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport continues to increase compared with last year but still lags behind 2019.

The airport reports that passenger traffic in May was 104% higher than it was in May 2020. Year-to-date, passenger traffic was up 22%. In all, 160,163 people traveled through St. Pete-Clearwater International in May compared with 78,506 the year before, according to numbers released Monday morning.

While the increase is encouraging after COVID-19 ravaged the tourism and airline industry last year, especially in the early months, the number of people using the airport remains far down from 2019 levels.

Passenger traffic dropped 20% in May 2021 when compared with May 2019 when 199,589 people traveled through the airport. And year-to-date, passenger traffic is down 25% to 711,249 from nearly a million, 961,013, over the same period in 2019.

Meanwhile, numbers from the Pinellas County Tax Collector's office reinforces that the belief the area survived the worst and is seeing a resurgence in tourism.

According to data from the tax collector,  bed tax collections rose to $8.7 million in April, up from $517,000 in 2020 and were 29% higher than the $6.7 million collected in 2019. Year-to-date, collections are $28.4 million, an increase of 52.7%.