Collier County witnesses tourism up in April

Published on : Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Collier County didn’t face many showers but it did attract good number of visitors whatsoever. In comparison to 2016, the county witnessed a nearly 3 percent up in the number of tourists putting up in hotels and other vacation rentals. As per the monthly report by Tampa-based Research Data Services Inc., there were approximately 142,500 visitors which accounted an up from 138,600 in 2016. Few other key factors like opening of more rooms at the JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort which is yet to get completed and the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships are important to consider.

Easter in 2016 was observed in March. It was mid-April this year, welcoming more travelers here last month to celebrate the candy-laden holiday with friends and family. To quote Walter Klages, the county’s tourism consultant, at a Tourist Development Council meeting Monday, ‘that very clearly had an impact. No question about that’.

He further added by saying that while the JW Marriott has debuted, its conversion is still continuing as more rooms are gradually opening up with renovations. Jack Wert, the county’s tourism director said that ‘we are starting to now see the impact of rooms on Marco Island coming back online again. It takes a while for that to re-feed itself, but we are definitely seeing that now.’