Halloween brings a bounty of treats for Tampa Bay tourism

Taylor Swift, military convention and hockey pack hotels, boost revenues

TAMPA (Nov. 5, 2015) – With major help from Taylor Swift, Halloween brought a bounty of goodies to Hillsborough County’s hospitality industry:

·       Preliminary figures by hotel industry analyst STR Inc. show Tampa Bay’s hotels nearly maxed out their occupancy on Oct. 31, reaching 89.1 percent – a jump of 34 percent from the previous year.

·       On that day alone, total hotel revenues broke the $2 million mark – more than 62 percent higher than the year before.

·       Revenue per available room, a key measure of hotel profitability, jumped 63 percent over the previous Halloween.

Halloween capped a week that included MILCOM 2015, the convention of the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association International, which ran from Oct. 25 to Oct. 30 and generated more than 3,300 room-nights in local hotels.

On top of all that, the Tampa Bay Lightning played the Boston Bruins at Amalie Arena on Halloween.

“It was a stellar week for Tampa Bay tourism,” said Santiago Corrada, president & CEO of Visit Tampa Bay, Hillsborough County’s destination marketing organization. “The combination of a major concert, major convention and major sporting event put us in the national spotlight and brought millions of dollars of revenue to this community. The fact that all three happened basically the same time is testament to the ability of the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County to skillfully manage multiple major events at once.”

Visit Tampa Bay estimates that the sold-out Taylor Swift concert – her final stop on her “1989” national tour – produced 9,000 room-nights and $10 million in economic impact all by itself. The concert filled Raymond James Stadium with 57,000 screaming fans.

Visit Tampa Bay joined forces with the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, Visit Florida, and the Tampa Sports Authority (which manages Raymond James Stadium), to promote the Taylor Swift concert on the radio in four of Tampa Bay’s key leisure-travel markets: New York City, Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., and Jacksonville. Together, the promotions amounted to more than $700,000 in free media and had an audience of 10.5 million people.

“To host the final stop on Taylor Swift’s U.S. Tour was truly an honor and I would like to thank Taylor and her management team for this opportunity,” said Eric Hart, President/CEO of the Tampa Sports Authority. “With the support of Visit Tampa Bay and the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, we were able to deliver a significant impact to Tampa tourism and we look forward to hosting more marquee events in the future.”   

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About Visit Tampa Bay

Visit Tampa Bay encourages adventurous travelers to unlock our destination’s trove of unique treasures. We are a private, not-for-profit 501(c)6 corporation that works with more than 750 partners to tell the world the story of our home – the hip, urban heart of the Gulf Coast of Florida.

 

 

For more information:

KEVIN WIATROWSKI

Media Relations

Visit Tampa Bay

Office: (813) 218-3894

Cell: (813) 395-4043

Twitter: @kwiatrowskiVTB

 

 

 

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