Travel & Outdoors

Tourism

Visitors and Revenue From Airbnb Up in 2018

Roughly 100,000 visitors booked lodgings through Airbnb in Sarasota County in 2018, generating $22.8 million in revenue for local hosts.

01/15/2019 By Staff

Marketing

Educational Events Intended to Help Hospitality Businesses Hurt By Red Tide

Visit Sarasota County is helping hospitality businesses learn how to use Google My Business to communicate with customers concerned about red tide.

01/14/2019 By Staff

Hotels

Hospitality Trade Groups Merge

The Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association and Florida Bed and Breakfast Inns recently partnered to form a new statewide organization: the Florida Inns Chapter.

01/14/2019 By Staff

Taste the Tropics

Sarasota is a Paradise for Fruit Growing, Fruit Cooking and Fruit Eating

Discover the many ways to sample our backyard bounty.

01/03/2019 By Scott Mahler

Taste the Tropics

Nine Fruiting Trees and Plants for the Florida Home

How to enjoy nature's bounty in your own backyard.

01/03/2019 By Staff

Squeezed

Battered By Disease and Storms, Florida Citrus Growers Hope 2019 Is a Better Year

The most recent estimate for the current season suggests production should reach 77 million boxes of oranges and 6.4 million boxes of grapefruit.

01/03/2019 By Cooper Levey-Baker

Taste the Tropics

Mad for Mangoes? Plant These Trees and Enjoy Them All Year

Will Wright, chairman of the Tropical Fruit Society of Sarasota, gives us his best tips.

01/03/2019 By Ilene Denton

Taste the Tropics

The Coconut Palm Is a Universal Symbol of the Tropics

Coconut palms give food, clothing and shelter to millions of people around the world.

01/03/2019 Photography by Scott Mahler

Taste the Tropics

Turn Your Backyard Into a Paradise of Tropical Fruit

Growing tropical fruit takes a bit of imagination, planning and work, but the rewards are tangible, delectable, enchanting.

01/03/2019 By Scott Mahler

Scrub Jay Blues

Saving Florida’s Friendliest Native Bird Matters

At Oscar Scherer State Park, home to Sarasota County’s largest scrub jay population, the numbers have dropped from 160 birds to less than 20.

12/26/2018 By Dyllan Furness

Environment

Pulitzer-Winning Historian Speaks in Sarasota on Jan. 15

Jack E. Davis' book The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea examines the often-tragic history of the Gulf of Mexico.

12/21/2018 By Staff

Tourism

Florida Airports High in On-Time Holiday Travel Ranking

Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers was ranked No. 3 in the nation and Tampa International Airport was ranked No. 4.

12/14/2018 By Staff

Boating

Sarasota Yacht Club Receives 'Platinum' Distinction

Only 30 yacht clubs in the country have been named a "Platinum Club of America" by the Club Leaders Forum.

12/11/2018 By Staff

Boating

New Marina Opens

The marina at One Particular Harbour Margaritaville has 55 wet slips and an enclosed boathouse capable of housing 128 vessels.

12/04/2018 By Staff

Environment

Climate Change Conference Takes Place Friday

Topics will include the implication of rising sea levels for Florida, the effect of climate change on hurricanes, whether climate change worsens red tide and more.

12/04/2018 By Staff