Tourists tired of the coronavirus lockdown and eager to get some sun are flooding Florida beaches, which in recent months have received more visitors than before the pandemic.
Miami is one of the most consulted sites on travel portals and, at the state level, Florida received 32.5 million visitors between July and September of this year, exceeding the number of tourists in the same period in 2019, before pandemic, Governor Ron DeSantis recently said.
The state benefited from DeSantis, a Republican, resistance to quarantines and the use of chinstraps, which boosted one of the main engines of Florida’s economy while tourism declined sharply in other parts of the country.
Now the “snowbirds” (migratory birds) are returning, as the generally elderly people from the northeast of the country are called who come in search of warmth during the winter. Miami, and Florida in general, have become very popular by authorizing the arrival of foreign tourists this month, although the state could still be affected by changes in plans associated with the appearance of omicron, the new variant of the coronavirus.
“As soon as the border was reopened and flights were authorized in November, reservations from Europe and South America increased,” said Milton Sgarbi, vice president of 1 Hotel South Beach, one of Miami’s most luxurious oceanfront resorts.
“We’ve had bridal showers, reunions, weddings almost every weekend, (though) not as big as in the past,” Sgarbi said. “Last weekend we had three weddings.”
Despite the pandemic, luxury hotels saw a lot of movement in 2021. There are typically equal numbers of business and leisure travelers, but Sgarbi predicts that in 2022 there will be a large increase in business meetings and international tourists.
Karen Aguilar, from Bucaramanga, Colombia, came to Miami in November, shortly after the doors to international tourism reopened, to enjoy the sun.
“You come here for the views, the beaches, the people. It is a very cozy place. I will return ”, he affirmed.
Miami and Florida usually receive both national and international tourists, but with the closure of the borders by COVID-19, their cities launched intense campaigns to attract national tourists fed up with the confinement.
“National tourism came back with everything,” said Ronaldo Aedo, of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. “The number of travelers from the United States increased, in part because Florida and Miami stayed open while others did not. There was a lot of pent-up demand ”.
Many Miami hotels opened when resorts in much of the country were closed. Airlines like Southwest and JetBlue added routes to Miami for the first time, and Ado said Miami, the capital of cruise travel, has opened new terminals in ports to accommodate more ships from companies like Virgin, which recently added Miami to their routes. .
Miami, on the other hand, keeps adding attractions. In addition to the immensely popular South Beach, the Wynwood arts district also generates a lot of interest. Its authorities estimate that there were almost 6 million visitors in 2021, compared to 5 million in 2020.
Elegant restaurants and boutiques have opened throughout the year in Wynwood, where most of the buildings and sidewalks feature colorful murals. TripAdvisor ranked Wynwood as one of the best destinations in the United States for young “hipsters”.
Andrew Cronin, a resident of Orlando (Florida), visited South Beach several times, but says that now “I like to go a little more to Wynwood and Brickell, because there you experience the real Miami, it is like the heart of Miami”.
Orlando and its theme parks are always a popular destination and now it will host Disney’s 50th anniversary celebrations. New attractions include the Peppa Pig Theme Park, which will open in February, and several new hotels.
“The holidays are going to be a strong period for us,” predicted Casandra Matej, President and CEO of Visit Orlando.
Reservations for Christmas and New Years in Orlando are roughly 95% of what they were for the 2019 year-end holidays.
“Reservations for January and February are triple those of last year,” added Matej.
Across Florida, temporary visitor home rentals through the end of the year have been 42% higher than in 2019, according to Visit Florida.
Between now and March, on the other hand, 50 new hotels will open throughout the state.
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