Navarre Beach expected to draw a record number of tourists this summer for 5th consecutive year

Thursday, June 20, 2019

For the fifth successive year, Navarre Beach is expected to draw a record number of tourists this summer.

Between October 2018 and April 2019, tourist development tax collections reached more than $1.5 million, which is more than double the amount during the same period in 2014-2015.

Deonna Houchins, who works in the gift shop at the Navarre Beach pier, said that she notices more people coming to the four-mile stretch of Barrier Island on the Gulf of Mexico. The pier is the longest one in Florida, stretching 1,545 feet and towering 30 feet above the Gulf.

Houchins said that the combination of the area’s natural beauty, less-crowded beaches than Pensacola Beach or Destin, and Hurricane Michael’s destruction of Mexico Beach to the east in October are behind increased tourist numbers.

“This is a great place to be,” Houchins said. “If you came here before, you’ll want to come back.”

Last summer from May through September, tourist development tax collections reached almost $2.1 million. As per projections, bed taxes si expected to climb more than $445,500 this summer and, for the first time, hit $4 million for the fiscal year.

The Navarre Beach Marine Science Station on the beach’s eastern end has benefited from the growth in visitors. It added three new summer camps to the four it already runs.

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