Tampa tourism kicks off spring with record-breaking month

TAMPA, Fla. - Tourism officials in Tampa are celebrating a record-breaking month. The latest figures from Visit Tampa Bay show that hotel and bed taxes, among other tourism-related revenue generators, topped $4 million.  

That's a 22% gain over the previous high, set in April of 2019.  April of this year saw 72% hotel occupancy, versus just 23% in April 2020.  

"I had no idea that this April would be the best April of all time," said Visit Tampa Bay CEO Santiago Corrada. 

Corrada says the numbers, in part, reflect pent-up demand for travel and an open destination.  

Tourism officials are optimistic for even bigger numbers this summer since some of Tampa's bigger revenue sources, like cruises and international travelers, aren't back in the mix.

"They’re pretty extraordinary, when you think of what’s still missing and still to come in these numbers are pretty dramatic," Corrada said. 

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It's a dramatic rebound from a dramatic, hopefully once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.           

"April was just an incredible month for us and May is going to be even better, I think," he added.