INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — As Vero heads into the steamy, sleepy summer months, members of the Oceanside Business Association and the Indian River County Chamber of Commerce have a lot to cheer about when looking at the results of the winter/spring season, a time that saw a big jump in tourism tax revenues.
“We know business was up,” said Al Benkert, president of the Oceanside group.
Benkert said fewer seasonal residents appeared to be dragging in their patio furniture and shuttering their windows in the days after Easter than in the past.
Need proof? Go to the beach.
“I have never seen the beaches as full as they are,” Benkert said.
More proof comes in the form of increased tourist tax revenues. The county collects a 4 percent “bed tax” on all overnight accommodations of six months or less.
“It has been phenomenal. Just phenomenal,” said Monica Smiley, director of sales and marketing for Costa d’ Este and chair of the chamber’s tourism board.
“We’ve had an incredibly incredible season right up through April and May,” Smiley said.
Things have been looking up for some time.
December saw a 27.1 percent spike in tourist tax revenue after a 7.5 percent jump in November when year-over-year figures are compared.
January bed tax revenues jumped 27.1 percent over the previous year. There was slight dip in February but March revenue was up 25 percent to $263,247. That is the highest March figure since fiscal year 2007/2008.
For the fiscal year so far, October through March, the county’s tourist tax revenue is up a solid 16 percent.
Chamber officials say an aggressive marketing campaign that sold the area as an ideal spot for destination weddings and as an attractive place to hold small business meetings and retreats paid off.
“We are concentrating on the niche markets,” said Susan Belgam-Hunt, the chamber’s director of tourism.
Solid marketing and promotions are key, especially for the slower summer months on the barrier island.
Costa d’Este, a property that helped put Vero on the tourism map, has been offering special rates to good effect. The first two weekends in June are booked solid at the 94-room hotel.
Costa d’Este draws customers from all areas of the state as well as the rest of the country and from overseas.
“Vero is such a fantastic destination,” said Smiley.
Smiley attributes much of the resort’s success to a progressive discount program that can cut a hotel bill by 30 percent per night for stays of at least four nights.
“If you stay more, you save more,” Smiley said.
That program was launched in January and it was such a success that they have decided to continue with it over the summer months.
“We booked over $700,000 on that one rate code alone,” Smiley said.
The resort is currently offering rooms as low as $129 a night Sundays through Thursdays in its Make a Splash promotion and it has just launched the Splash Stylist Program.
The Splash Stylist Program offers complimentary pool-side foot massages from 11 a.m. to noon as well as sunscreen, magazines, sunglass cleaning and frozen grapes.
“So our guests can park on a lounger and be set,” Smiley said.
Benkert and chamber officials applaud the efforts of Costa d’Este and other hotels to attract visitors and help power the area’s economic engine.
“The high-end hotels are bringing in people who are not only shopping but they are also buying real estate,” Benkert said.
“I think we have really made an impact [on visitors] and the word is out: we are no longer the best kept secret anymore,” Belgam-Hunt said.
State tourism official Will Seccombe was the keynote speaker at the Indian River County Chamber of Commerce’s 2012 Tourism Accomplishments luncheon earlier this month.
He said more than a million Floridians are employed in tourism and that 86 million people visited Florida last year.
The county’s 4-percent tourism tax revenue is used for three main purposes.
“One and a half percent goes to fund tourism development activities,” says County Budget Director Jason Brown. “Another 1.5 percent goes to beach restoration. The remaining 1 percent is used to retire the Dodgertown bond.”
The money that goes to tourism development helps fund the Cultural Council of Indian River County, the Indian River Historical Society, the Vero Beach Heritage Center and specific tourism development activities at the Chamber of Commerce.
Based on the March tourist tax figure, visitors spent more than $6.5 million on lodging in Indian River County during the month.