The busy season for tourists in Collier County ended on a high note.
As season wound down in April, it not only proved to be a busy month, but a stronger month than last year.
The latest statistics were presented to the county’s Tourist Development Council during its regular meeting on June 16.
Here’s a look at the key metrics for April — and how they compared to the same month last year, from the county’s research firm:
“Not only did we have more visitors, but each one of those visitors was on average staying just a little bit longer per trip,” said James Brendle, a project director and economic research lead with Downs & St. Germain Research.
While direct spending by tourists grew, it didn’t grow by as much as the visitor numbers did by percentage, which is worth watching, but not worth worrying about unless it becomes a trend, he said.
Tourism is gaining back ground and growing
In his report, Brendle emphasized that last April was “a bit of a soft comparison,” with most metrics flat or slightly down that month over the year.
“So, this isn’t purely a breakout growth situation,” he said. “It’s a little bit of a returning to baseline that we lost last year, and then also growing from that.”
He added: “These figures look healthy to me.”
His presentation included the usual breakdown of visitor origins, showing domestic visitation — or visitation from residents within the United States — rose by 12.8% over the year, representing about 25,000 additional visitors.
“The Midwest is the real story, up 21% …. The Northeast and Southeast also grew significantly, and Florida also grew 7%,” Brendle said.
International visitation was a different story. Across the board, it dropped by about 13.8% over the year, or by about 4,000 visitors, mirroring state and national trends.
“This is a story that we’ve seen continue for the last year or so,” Brendle said.
The biggest dips in international visitation came from Canada, down 13.3%, and from Europe, down 17.2%, over the year.
Pointing to data from STR, a global research firm, Brendle said it showed that leisure demand — or demand by tourists — for hotel rooms in the county declined by 1.8% in April over the year. He attributed the decline to several factors, including a smaller supply of rooms, with some under renovation and out of inventory.
Another factor: More visitors “landed” in vacation rentals this year.
He noted that group demand for hotel rooms rose by 19% over the year, which helped keep hotel occupancies and rates strong.
Hoteliers have a sunnier outlook
Looking ahead, Brendle said his firm’s latest survey shows hoteliers have a more positive outlook, with only 18% reporting their reservations are down over the year for the next three months, versus 32% for the same time last year.
“Then the amount of people that said that their reservations were up jumped from 19% to 30%, with the majority still being roughly the same,” he said.
He characterized the change in sentiment by hoteliers as a “real directional improvement.”
Tourist taxes trending up this year
Separately, Jay Tusa, Collier County’s tourism director, reported that tourist tax collections for April came in at more than $9.4 million, increasing by nearly 12% over the year.
The county charges a 5% tax on hotel and other vacation stays. Since the start of the fiscal year in October, the county has collected more than $35.3 million in taxes, with the total up by nearly 10% through April.
Tusa highlighted April as a busy month in more ways than one, including hosting the 2026 Franklin US Open Pickleball Championships in East Naples, which attracted more than 55,000 fans and more than 3,700 players from all 50 states and 53 countries to the county.
“It was a very successful event,” he said, adding that it was recently voted as the No. 1 pickleball tournament for fans in the USA Today Sports Readers’ Choice Awards.
Tourism growing in other parts of Southwest Florida
In Southwest Florida, the busy season traditionally runs from November to April. This year, season wasn’t just busier in Collier County.
In neighboring Lee County, visitor statistics are presented quarterly, not monthly. The last quarterly report, covering the months of January through March, showed key tourism metrics up across the board, including visitor numbers and hotel occupancy rates, as the county continues its recovery from the devastating blow of Hurricane Ian in 2022.
STR data shows continued growth in April, including a 7.8% increase in hotel demand overall, compared to the same month last year, across the county. Hotel occupancy also rose by more than 5% over the year.
Lee County has about 13,000 hotel rooms now — about the same number as before Ian (although not as many of the rooms are in coastal communities, such as Fort Myers Beach). In Collier, there are less than 10,000.
Laura Layden is a senior business and government reporter. Reach her by email at laura.layden@naplesnews.com.
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This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Collier County tourism numbers climb in April
Reporting by Laura Layden, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News / Naples Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Laura Layden, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News | USA TODAY Network
