Sarasota County’s tourism economy is showing signs of a slowdown after years of post-pandemic highs. According to Visit Sarasota County's May 2025 visitor dashboard, the total economic impact of tourism that month fell to $198.5 million, down more than 10 percent from $220.8 million in May 2024. Visitor spending dropped 6.6 percent, and visitation to paid accommodations declined by 7.7 percent.

Hotel performance metrics told a more complicated story. Average daily rates (ADR) in May rose 10.8 percent year-over-year, and revenue per available room (RevPAR) increased by 11.1 percent. But majority of local property managers also reported weak forward bookings heading into summer. In a May survey, 71 percent said they had fewer reservations compared to the same time last year. 

Erin Duggan, president and CEO of Visit Sarasota County, noted that while pricing went up, volume softened—especially among Floridians traveling to the area.

“I don’t know if I’m going to correlate [that data] to visitor sentiment,” Duggan says. “We’ve not seen general manager optimism down for a long time. If I had to speculate, it might be due to beautification efforts post-hurricanes, since there have been some concerns about that." For example, in some areas, post-hurricane landscaping has led to a look that's less lush or manicured than before the storms hit.

That shift is also evident in where—and how—people are staying. Online platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo contributed $10.8 million in tourist development tax (TDT) revenue in fiscal year (FY) 2024, up 2.7 percent year-over-year and accounting for 22.3 percent of all collections. On the other hand, hotels and motels contributed $18.7 million, a 10.4 percent drop.

“During the pandemic, short-term rentals did better because people wanted to avoid shared spaces,” Duggan says. “It’s still trendy for families and groups to stay together.”

But group travel has also dipped. In the second quarter of this year, bookings for weddings, reunions and other events fell 33 percent.

Duggan links this to broader seasonal shifts: Although October through December (quarter one of FY2025) showed steady performance on paper—with a 1 percent rise in occupancy and a 9 percent increase in rooms sold—much of that activity was driven by post-hurricane recovery rather than traditional tourism. Duggan notes that October and November 2024, specifically, saw an influx of evacuees, property owners checking on storm damage, and out-of-town workers tied to cleanup and repairs. “It wasn’t a traditional vacation period due to the hurricanes,” she says. As a result, total economic impact—the total amount of money visitors bring into the local economy when they come to Sarasota, including hotel stays, shopping, dining out and more, plus the ripple effects that come as the money circulates among local businesses and employees— for the quarter edged up 0.5 percent year-over-year, to $682.9 million, but visitor spending patterns were atypical, reflecting needs-based travel rather than leisure-driven demand.

From October 2024 through May 2025—the first eight months of Sarasota County’s current fiscal year—TDT collections reached $34.6 million, about $2 million behind the same period in fiscal year 2024. Total economic impact through May was $1.17 billion, down 7.7 percent year-over-year.

Sarasota County’s TDT collections also fell in FY2024 (October 2023 through September 2024), despite being the first full year at the higher 6 percent rate. (Sarasota County increased its Tourist Development Tax from 5 to 6 percent in October 2022 to support tourism-related capital projects like beach maintenance and stadium improvements).

According to the county’s annual TDT report, total collections dropped to $48.37 million, down 3.24 percent from $50 million in FY2023. In October 2024, the first month of Fiscal Year 2025,  Sarasota's TDT collections fell from $3.54 million in October 2023 to $2.54 million in October 2024, a 28.2 percent year-over-year decline that also coincided with the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

During that same period, visitation to paid accommodations also dropped 13.3 percent for the year, with total visitor volume down 11.7 percent. Economic impact fell from $3.7 billion to $3.5 billion. But room rates again rose—from an average daily rate of $254.56 to $262.69—while occupancy declined from 71.4 percent to 64.8 percent. Revenue per available room dropped 6.3 percent.

Visit Sarasota County attributes part of the shift to changing travel behavior. The second quarter of fiscal year showed a 52.5 percent drop in Visit Sarasota County website guide orders, a longtime metric used to gauge trip-planning interest. Duggan called the trend “speculative” and attributed it to Google’s new way of delivering search outcomes with AI-generated answers vs. article links.

“There’s a lot we still don’t know," Duggan says. "It’s only about six months into this shift, and I expect we’ll see a lot of research coming out soon."

And while engagement with the Visit Sarasota County's print marketing materials may have declined, Duggan says other channels remain strong, especially online ones. “We’re still seeing great engagement online, and our e-newsletter is doing well," she says. "We also offer a relocation packet that includes workforce and business information, and that interest has remained more consistent.” 

“Our research firm tells us that rates are going up, occupancy has decreased slightly and group visitation is down,” she continues. “When you consider these factors, it’s easy to understand that visitor numbers have remained relatively flat. Our dream is for quality over quantity. We’d like to have fewer visitors spending more.”

Looking ahead, Duggan expects FY2025 to finish in a similar fashion as FY2024. “Visitation has gone down a little,” she says. “It’s more the Floridian resident, which makes sense for us at a demographic level. We try to use our marketing dollars to complement gaps and move the needle during the off-season.”

Plus, the tourism model appears to be evolving. “We used to say women drove the trends,” Duggan adds. “But now we’re seeing that kids do, too.” The area is attracting younger, traveling families, with more people searching for things to do with their kids. 

As for international travel, it's too early to say whether it's been affected by the Trump Administration's travel bans and tariffs. International visitation to Sarasota showed early signs of recovery in the first half of FY2025, with quarter one and quarter two data indicating a modest increase over the previous year.

Duggan notes that international trips are often planned well in advance, with bookings made 12 to 18 months out, and financial deposits already committed. That can insulate the market from sudden shifts in sentiment.

“Even if [international visitors] are upset, they don’t walk away from money,” she says. While she again says it's too early to draw conclusions, she acknowledges some frustration among Canadian travelers, in particular, and cites possible political concerns.

“It wouldn’t surprise me to see a dip in Canadian travel,” she says, “but it’s still speculative at this point.”