Collier County's latest tourism numbers reveal a mixed bag for local businesses. Domestic visitors have slightly increased compared to last year, but international travel has taken a hit. Overall spending has also dropped, even though people are staying longer.
Keely Iantosca, who has owned Luigi's Pizzeria in Collier County for 51 years, shared her experience with WINK News.
"I have seen a big dip in tourism with the Canadians not coming here. It's been tough with the tourism," said Iantosca.
At a recent Collier County tourism meeting, officials presented data showing that the number of international visitors to the county dropped by 8.4%. Despite this, more than 2.15 million people still visited the area. However, direct spending slipped to $2.43 billion, down 0.8%.
Local organizations are also noticing the impact. Hyla Crane, executive director at the Marco Island Center for the Arts, expressed her concerns.
"One of the things we noted this year has been the decline in international visitation, which I've never seen. I've been in my job for 11 years, and we have only seen one international visitor, a woman from Spain, and that was only because she was visiting family in Miami. They came for a day visit over to Marco Island," said Crane.
Business owners and community members are trying to make sense of these changes.
"We just can't figure out why it's so slow this year compared to normal," said Iantosca.
Tourism leaders are optimistic about the future. They are shifting strategies by rolling out new marketing initiatives and using AI tools to help boost spending and bring back more international visitors.