MANATEE COUNTY, FL (WWSB) - Florida is celebrating another year of record tourism numbers. More than 116 million people came to the Sunshine State last year, even though the state lost nearly two million visitors because of Hurricane Irma.
"The weather is always good. Never too cold, never too hot for me," said lifelong Florida resident Charles Canada.
"If the weather stays pretty well, you have no economic downtown," explained Elliott Falcione, Executive Director for the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Elliott said Florida's weather also hurt the state's tourism in 2017, losing 1.8M visitors in the months following Hurricane Irma, even impacting areas that weren't severely hit by the storm.
"Remember, society is geographically challenged. So even if something is affecting the east coast, they look at it as a whole, the entire state of Florida," said Falcione.
Falcione believes the problem stemmed from the perception of visitors,
but the state was able to lure out of state guests by communicating when a damaged area was ready for visitors.
"There's nothing better than to be flat out transparent and honest with a perspective customer because you want them to come and enjoy Florida and not come to something that was negatively affected," stated Falcione.
Despite the $1.5B loss caused by Hurricane Irma, 3.6% more visitors came to the state last year compared to 2016. Falcione explained its a priority to keep those visitors coming back, hoping they will eventually move to the area. Some of cCnada's friends up north have already caught the Florida bug.
"Now they're starting to make this place their home," smiled Canada.
