Visit Sarasota County predicts positive tourism season

Sarasota County is beating the state in the increase of tourists this past year, according to the marketing outlook presentation given by Visit Sarasota County today.

Florida’s visitation increase was up 2.3% since 2013, according to Visit Florida’s data, while the county’s boosted 5.2%. Sarasota is also ousting the state for hotel occupancy rates—the county boasted a 74% average occupancy rate for the 2014 fiscal year.

“Visitors are opening up their wallets,” said Virginia Haley, president of Visit Sarasota County.

Even out of the typical tourism season, Sarasota was getting attention. Haley said during the presentation that over the summer months, Sarasota was a trending search term on Google for U.S. destinations.

Visit Sarasota is predicting that the county will see increases in couples and single adults traveling alone, and that cycling will become a destination sport to rival golf. It also predicts that there will be a 3% increase in visitors in 2015 in comparison to the numbers seen in 2014.

“We’ve had extraordinary growth… we can’t expect that to continue,” Haley said. “It will keep growing, but at a slower rate.”

The tourism organization tried some new marketing strategies this year, such as targeting advertising into specific markets and getting a new website that fits to the device it’s viewed on. Haley cautioned the 50-some attendants of the presentation that the county cannot get complacent, and must always push for new ideas.

“We’re growing the brand and growing brand recognition,” she said.