Tampa Bay area's major weekend events attracts tourists for New Year's holiday

TAMPA, Fla. - The New Year's holiday marks a big weekend with several major events in the Tampa Bay area, attracting tourists from near and far.  

Professional sports fans will have there pick of events, including the Tampa Bay Lightning home games on Saturday and Sunday and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosting the Saints on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium. 

"The Bucs are playing great, so we hope for a win, and it’ll be a great New Year's Eve with a Bucs victory," Rodney Shaw, who’s visiting from Orlando, told FOX 13. 

RELATED: Pinellas County reports record year for tourism in 2023

On Monday, college football fans will also fill Raymond James Stadium in Tampa for the ReliaQuest Bowl between Wisconsin and LSU. The two out-of-town teams visited Busch Gardens on Friday and will spend a beach day at Clearwater Beach on Saturday. 

"What this equates to is tens of thousands of people in our destination and tens of thousands of hotel room nights and millions of dollars in local economic impact," Visit St. Pete/Clearwater president and CEO Brian Lowack said. "Tourism is what drives the bus here in our local economy. And this weekend, really, that's on full display here in Tampa Bay."

In November, officials with Visit St. Pete/Clearwater announced more than $98 million in bed tax was collected for the fiscal year 2023, from Oct. 1, 2022, to Sept. 30, 2023. That’s the most in Pinellas County tourism history. 

They hope to continue that momentum through the end of 2023.  

"We really want to make sure that we're upping our game to showcase our destination to the world this upcoming year," Lowack said. "And, I'm confident that we're going to do that."