2011 Record Tourism in PCB

Jason Koertge has an awesome vacation rental business in Panama City Beach that focuses on remarkable properties around the Pier Park area.  They range from 1 to 3 bedrooms, they’re clean, and amazing.  He can be found at PCBLP.com.

First let me say, hi!  Now that we’re through the pleasantries, let’s get down to business!

For those of you that have been keeping an eye on the market the past 10 months, you know that Panama City Beach has seen the fruition of a huge pent-up demand for our white sandy beaches.  Coming out of a recovering market and a near cataclysmic oil spill situation, Panama City Beach was ripe for the picking this year and we have the numbers to prove it.

Following is a report on the bed tax revenue for Panama City Beach as reported to Bay County and provided to the Tourist Development Council.

Summer of 2010

The summer of 2010 should really be taken right off the record.  The tourism numbers were terrible.  Industry-related businesses all up and down the beach reported record-shattering lows, driving some out of business and others right into their savings accounts.

It was so nasty, we did a whole series on the travails.

But, just for conversation’s sake, let’s take a look at the numbers. 

• May — — $1,075,882.69
• June — — $1,884,269.21
• July — — $1,967,020.33
• August — — $807,936.59
• September — — $795,301.87

Summer of 2009

Rolling into the summer of 2009, the spring months were record breaking.  We were experiencing a strong increase over the previous year and the summer was pacing to be the same.  Numbers were an honest 10 to 15% increase over the previous year, which is considered healthy.

Here are the numbers. 

• May — — $998,779.40
• June — — $1,946,037.92
• July — — $2,302,863.86
• August — — $947,596.17
• September — — $795,698.44

Summer of 2011

Compared to the summer of 2010, this past summer’s bed tax revenue numbers were earthquake-inducing.  Looking at the numbers, one begins to wonder where all those people stayed.  I can tell you, with me being in the tourism business now, the summer was just absolutely nuts.  We were booked solid from June 1 through the end of August with nary a vacancy.

Here are the numbers. 

• May — — $1,127,340.30 — 4.78% up from 2010; 11.4% up from 2009
• June — — $2,283,706.72 — 21.2% up from 2010; 14.7% up from 2009
• July — — $2,966,913.96 — 50.83% up from 2010; 22% up from 2009
• August — — $1,086,541.59 — 34.48% up from 2010; 12.7% up from 2009
• September — — $928,161.56 — 16.71% up from 2010; 14.2% up from 2009

Looks like we’re back on track.

Ya know, coming out of last year’s disaster, any improvement was a welcome sight.  But looking at the numbers over last year, it feels like we just picked up where we would have been left off, had we had a normal summer in 2010.  This is positive and encouraging considering most of us locals’ livelihood relies on tourism to feed our families.

Speaking from someone who knows, this past summer was certainly feast over famine for us, and we certainly anticipate the same for next year.