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Tourists set records in St. Pete, Clearwater as area rebounds after back-to-back hurricanes

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Published  May 5, 2025 5:06pm EDT
Pinellas County
FOX 13 News
Celebrating tourism in the Tampa Bay area

Celebrating tourism in the Tampa Bay area

Kailey Tracy reports.

The Brief

    • St. Pete Clearwater International Airport and Visit St. Pete Clearwater hosted PIE Rally Day on Monday to celebrate visitors at the airport.
    • Visit St. Pete Clearwater said its tourist development tax in January, the hotel bed tax, reached a record for the region for that month at $8.29 million.
    • Airport and local leaders say this year’s tourism impact is even more important after Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - St. Pete Clearwater International Airport and Visit St. Pete Clearwater teamed up on Monday to highlight the impact of tourism on the Tampa Bay Area. 

Local perspective:

They hosted PIE Rally Day to celebrate visitors at the airport. It’s an annual event kicking off National Travel and Tourism Week, but airport and local leaders say this year’s tourism impact is even more important after Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Passengers were greeted with prizes, representatives from the local chambers of commerce and the airport’s therapy dogs.

What they're saying:

"It’s to recognize the passengers' tourism and give them a little appreciation and let them know how important they are for our community," Thomas Jewsbury, St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport executive director, said.

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"Every year is important, this year especially, because we need to let people know that we're open for business, we're still shining, and we're welcoming them with open arms," Barry Rubin, president and CEO of Pinellas Beaches Chamber, added.

Dig deeper:

Visit St. Pete Clearwater said its tourist development tax in January, the hotel bed tax, reached a record for the region for that month at $8.29 million. February came in even higher at $9.8 million.

St. Pete Clearwater International Airport also experienced record passengers in February and March. It recorded almost 292,000 passengers in March.

"We’re so fortunate that we were able to recover as quickly as we were," Jewsbury said. "We really sustained little damage here at the airport, so the tourism has really improved," Jewsbury said. 

"We’ve seen record growth even for March we were up 16 percent, so there’s a lot to be appreciative of," he said.

Jewsbury said he expects passenger numbers to continue to grow through the summer as everyone continues to welcome visitors back to the area.

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"We're hopeful that everyone's going to realize that we've worked very, very hard the last seven months to put things back in order for everybody to come back and enjoy everything we have to offer," Rubin said.

What's next:

St. Pete Clearwater International is also in the design phase of a terminal expansion. The project will add a combined TSA checkpoint and more gates. Construction will start at the end of 2026 and will take three to four years. 

The airport also recently introduced The Grouper shuttle which brings passengers from PIE to Clearwater Beach in partnership with the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority.

The Source: This story was written with information gathered by FOX 13's Kailey Tracy. 

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