Tourism trade rebounds from challenges
Article published on Thursday, April 6, 2006 |
TALLAHASSEE – Florida’s tourism trade is resilient and reliable, showing a continued rebound of tourism-related employment and spending from 9/11 and the hurricanes of the past two summers.
That’s the conclusion of a research report from Florida TaxWatch, “The Impact of Tourism on Florida’s Economy: Telling a More Complete Story.” The report notes that almost 86 million visitors a year come to Florida, more than ever before.
According to Florida TaxWatch, tourism employment and compensation, spending by tourists, and sales tax revenues have all increased, despite previous setbacks from 9/11 and most recently from the hurricanes. Among the key findings:
• Direct tourism-related employment increased 5.7 percent from 2002 to 2004 and accounts for 12 percent of all nonagricultural jobs in Florida, a percentage that has remained constant since 2000.
• Direct, indirect, and induced benefits of travel will generate from $103 billion to $136 billion in economic output by the year 2010 and 1.5 million to 1.8 million jobs for Florida.
• The average compensation, including wages and fringe benefits, of all direct and indirect tourism-related employment is $42,000.
• Tourism and recreational activities of all visitors and Floridians generated $57 billion in taxable transactions in 2004 compared to $43.8 billion in 1998, a 30 percent increase.
• Those activities will generate an estimated $12 billion to $13.8 billion in general state taxes between 2005 and 2010.
One impact of the 9/11 attacks was a marked shift from air travel to non-air (auto, boat, train and bus) travel. Today, their numbers are about equal. Whether Florida continues to recover the bigger-spending air travelers remains to be seen.
The report is part of a comprehensive on-going study by the Florida TaxWatch Center for Tourism that looks at the benefits and costs of tourism on Florida’s economy and, by extension, on the quality of life for Florida’s citizens.
The report utilized sophisticated forecasting and simulation models to examine the direct and indirect impact of tourism on Florida’s economy in terms of output, wages and employment.
The research found that the costs of tourism are insignificant. Florida’s crime rate has declined steadily over the same period that tourism has substantially increased.
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Article published on Thursday, April 6, 2006
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