Industry-wide rate discounting meant “we had to sell more rooms to maintain the same revenue. I think everybody’s going through that,” said Danny Adams, sales and marketing director at the Holiday in on Sanibel Island.
Estimates presented Friday to the county Tourist Development Council showed just over 4.7 million visitors traveled here in the last calendar year. That’s 0.9 percent fewer than in 2008.
The silver lining: Visitors staying in paid lodgings in 2009 increased by 8.9 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile, visitors staying with friends and relatives declined 8.4 percent.
The guest uptick at commercial accommodations “is a good sign,” said Tamara Pigott, interim director of the county Visitor & Convention Bureau.
Visitor spending, though, was down 10.3 percent in 2009 compared with 2008, according to estimates from bureau consultants.
Average daily rate for all kinds of lodgings in December, for example, was $106.17, down from $119.27 in December 2008.