International travel still needs to rebound in Pinellas

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — Travel experts believe high prices have been keeping international visitors from returning to Pinellas County in pre-pandemic levels and the owner of a St. Pete Beach resort has noticed the lag, too.

“Pre-pandemic 2018 and 2019, I mean we saw some huge numbers from Canada and from the UK,” said Plaza Beach Resorts President and CEO Rob Czyszczon. “We’re down over 50 percent last year.”

It is something the Pinellas County Tourist Development Council (TDC) which runs Visit St. Pete-Clearwater (VSPC) has been working to address.

At their August meeting, the TDC presented a “visitation by country” chart. It showed visitation from Canada, UK, Germany and Brazil has been roughly cut in half from 2019 to 2022.

Travel from Argentina and Mexico rebounded stronger after the pandemic but both countries were still below the 2019 numbers.

“The increases in Canada year-over-year are really strong. Mexico is anticipated to come back next year,” said Carmen Boyce, account director at BVK. “You can see the UK, Germany and Brazil, basically they’re all kind of lagging and staggering over the next few years.”

Data for 2023 is not yet available, according to VSPC.

At the May meeting, TDC member and general manager of the Sheraton Sand Key Resort on Clearwater Beach, Russ Kimball, said he’s also noticed international visitors have not come back to pre-pandemic levels.

“Europe one time was a million visitors a year in Pinellas County,” he said. “We don’t see those numbers.”

Kimball said he has not seen some of his European “regulars” who would visit a couple of times per year.

“They’re down in the Mediterranean. They have a house down there now and they haven’t come back yet,” he said. “They’re the ones who can afford to come… That was a good population that spent money on all the cross section of hotels.”

International travel has been down due to visa wait times, high prices and concerns about safety, according to VSPC experts at the TDC meeting in May.

“High inflation, very high airfares to the United States and high energy prices due to the ongoing Ukraine conflict present challenges,” said Rosemarie Payne, CVB director of leisure travel. “These headwinds might cause a difficult second half of 2023.”

It was recommended VSPC target Gulf tourism niche markets, luxury travel and the LGBTQ+ market because they have the financial means to visit.

Czyszczon said domestic travel has helped to make up for the loss of international business.

“Even though international is down a tad, we’re getting a lot, a big bump actually, from the drive market throughout Florida,” he said.

At Czyszczon’s three St. Pete Beach properties, the Plaza Beach Hotel Beachfront Resort, Bayview Plaza and the Bay Palms, the peak travel months for international travel has been January through March.

“We’re seeing some reservations come through,” he said. “People are coming back.”

Visa wait times from South American countries have been cut nearly in half from what they were at the start of the year, according to Jason Latimer, VSPC director of public relations.

Latimer said VSPC is looking at continued growth in 2024, bolstered by new flights in Tampa from key international markets.

“With growing demand, Discover Airlines will expand to offer a daily direct flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Tampa starting in the summer,” he said. “Additionally, Edelweiss will be expanding nonstop service from Zurich, Switzerland, to Tampa starting in May 2024.”