One Miami hotel wholesaler that books rooms in South Florida for French travel agencies says he has seen business climb 30% this year as a feeble U.S. dollar gives Europeans more spending power overseas.
According to people in the industry this is the best summer; one of the best summers South Florida has seen in a long time. This good fortune is due to the flood of foreign tourists scooping up bargains at the region's hotels in Miami.
Bookings made by foreign tourists have helped soak up a decline on the domestic side of South Florida's travel industry, which continues to post some encouraging numbers in the face of economic turmoil.
According to the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, Miami-Dade, the region's largest hotel market, saw overnight visitors increase 3% in the first six months of this year.
Those gains came despite a 1.2% decline in visitors from within the United States -- the first such loss since the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks. Miami-Dade's vacation industry was saved by the 8.2% increase in foreign visitors growing this year.
Monthly hotel reports suggest foreigners are driving profits during a difficult year even though Broward's tourism bureau does not track midyear travel statistics.
Hotels in Miami saw a 3.3% growth in revenue per room through June where last year foreign visitors accounted for 46% of the tourism market.
In Broward, room revenue dropped 1.5% where 79% of overnight visitors come from the United States and 5.1% in the Keys, where 77% do.
Henny Schaeffer, general manager of the Strand, a condo-hotel in South Beach popular with the British market says, ''August is going to be an awesome month.”
A trend helping boost U.S. gasoline prices across the country, as a weak economy weighs down the dollar; many foreigners find the United States a discounted destination.
As hotels boost rates and room inventories grow in Broward and the Keys, hotel tax collections continue growing in all three markets. Domestic arrivals in the region's two major airports are up 2.1% this year, thanks to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International's 5% increase.
Cutting into a crucial market for South Florida during the summer months are the high gas prices which are discouraging travelers on long car trip.
Harold Wheeler, tourism director of the Keys says Europeans ''really saved us this summer, that's for sure,'' where more than 80% of tourists arrive by car. Preliminary survey data shows significant increases in European tourists to the Keys along with a decline in visitors from the United States.
Even after a the revival Friday over worries about the European economy, the U.S. dollar has declined nearly 9% against the euro in the last 12 months.
This August marks the peak for European summer travel season, as companies throughout France, Spain and Italy release workers for holidays that can last for weeks.
One travel agent in Aventura, said South Florida bookings grew by double digits this year among the wholesaler's roster of German travel agencies. He has seen the biggest surge in the Fort Lauderdale market, with reservations up about 35%.
A weak dollar can't shield South Florida from all the forces at work in the global economy. As higher fuel prices are pushing up travel costs everywhere, Analysts continue to warn of weakness in the European economies.
Contributed by MLR Realty
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