ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — 2020 was a hard year for the tourism industry.
COVID-19 took a punch at tourism-related businesses, especially international travel. The lack of international travelers has hit Florida hard.
However, St. Augustine is bouncing back quicker than many Florida destinations. This is because visitors are coming from close-by.
“Pre COVID, we had a lot of international travelers,” Patti McRoberts said. She is the general manager at Tryp Hotel in St. Augustine. “A lot of people don’t want to fly.”
There are also some international travel restrictions in place. So stay-cations and tourists who drive to St. Augustine are helping the city’s tourism industry heal from the COVID punches earlier this year .
“The majority of what we’re seeing is from in-state,” McRoberts said. “There are some coming from Georgia.”
Richard Goldman, the director of St. Augustine Visitors and Convention Bureau said, “In terms of recovery to relatively normal levels, we’re returning quicker.”
“Miami and Orlando, in particular, are very dependent on international visitors and very dependent on fly business, and they’re substantially behind than they were in the past,” Goldman said.
But are there enough drive-in visitors now to St. Augustine to fill the financial hole that COVID-19 created this year?
“All indications are December will be close to our past performance,” Goldman said.
Robust December bookings may help McRoberts and her staff at Tryp, but overall for 2020, “We’re still down significantly.”