Tourism Indicators
Tourism Indicators cover total air traffic passengers coming in and out of Northwest Florida airports as well as local bed tax collections.
Annual Air Traffic
The Total Annual Air Traffic by Airport refers to the sum of passengers per year for four airports in the Northwest Florida region. Note that the most recent year of data is incomplete but will continue to update on a monthly basis.
Monthly Air Traffic
The Total Air Traffic Passengers reports monthly passengers for four airports in the Northwest Florida region. Seasonality in air traffic is evident when viewing the number of passengers by month, year and airport. While there is a slight increase in the general number of passengers over time, the season trend once exhibited before COVID has now been slightly off set.
On a positive note, vaccinations were widely available to most of the public by May, which began to normalize public health precautions put in place to mitigate the spread of COVID. Airports such as Destin Fort Walton Beach, Pensacola International and Northwest Florida Beaches International all exhibited an increase in air passengers that surpassed the prior level. Mobile Regional unfortunately did not experience the same positive returns.
Bed Tax Collections
Bed Taxes are used to grow tourism and contribute to development within the region. Bed tax collections were surprisingly not influenced much by COVID. Values were already increasing over time, with seasonal trends exhibiting some volatility.