The good news is the percentage of hotel rooms that were booked in May was higher in the Florida Keys than last year and higher than anywhere else in the state during the same month, according to tourism data released Wednesday.
The bad news is tourists spent less money, said Monroe County Tourist Development Council Director Harold Wheeler.
The percent of Keys hotel rooms that were occupied from May 3-30 was 77.4 percent, compared with 74.4 percent in 2008, reported Smith Travel Research, an independent research company that specializes in the U.S. lodging industry. Average room rates were about $26 less, dropping to $157 from $183.
Still, it was the highest lodging occupancy rate and average daily room rate of all Florida tourism destinations.
Greater Miami was second, at 63.4 percent and $136.73, respectively. Fort Lauderdale was No. 3 in occupancy at 59.1 percent, and Fort Myers was third in room rates at $114.
"We are obviously pleased with these numbers and they reveal much about the visitor appeal of the Keys, the marketing efforts of the TDC, as well as those individual Keys tourism-related businesses that advertise," Wheeler said. "Still, we know the recession continues to impact business."
Room rates and tourist spending on goods and services are less than they were last year.
"I think we have to realize that business is down," Wheeler said. "However, we seem to be doing better than the rest of the tourism destinations throughout the state of Florida."
Rates were down about 31 percent in Orlando and 35 percent in Tampa, he said.
"We're not trying to say business is great," Wheeler said, "but we are doing better than a lot of other people right now."
It's unclear whether a higher occupancy rate translates into more individual tourists, as the percentage could be skewed if hotel rooms are offline, and the numbers do not reflect how many people are staying in a single room.
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