Interview: Santiago Corrada

High impact

Stellar hotel revenue numbers and tourism tax benefits ensure local employment opportunities as Tampa Bay becomes a ‘must-visit’ destination

Santiago Corrada President & CEO Visit Tampa Bay

How has the region benefited from the record year it just had in regard to tourism numbers? We had an incredible end to the 2018 calendar year. It was another record-setting year for hotel revenue, which is phenomenal given that we have had record-setting years every year since 2014. We ended 2018 at $673.5 million in hotel taxable revenue, which was almost 5% higher than the previous year at $644 million. This is important for us because anytime a county hits $600 million in taxable revenue, it is granted the designation of a high-impact tourism destination. We have been able to reach that designation for two years in a row, and this year was even more important because our county commission just approved a rise in the tourism tax from 5% to 6%, which is the highest that any county can collect. These tourists are paying taxes that impact our quality of life; for example, every single tourist pays that new transportation tax, the new education tax and they pay a sales tax. All these things are contributing to the region’s job market and we are able to afford our locals more employment opportunities.

How is Visit Tampa Bay attracting more people into the region? This region is starting to become everybody’s must-visit destination, which is awesome. This openness with tourism leads to people wanting to relocate, which is what we are now promoting while marketing for economic development. Instead of Visit Tampa Bay, we are calling the campaign “Make it Tampa Bay.” The campaign is to encourage people to make it Tampa Bay for a new job, or a corporate relocation or even a home relocation. We are branching out and doing more than just tourism marketing. We are now moving from that first initial visit to hopefully making you a permanent neighbor of ours.

How can the region sustain and build upon the growth of tourism into Tampa Bay? The modest hotel growth we are seeing in this region will help. There are certain big-name, five-star brands we do not have in Hillsborough County, and as the business plan makes sense to add these properties then we will. These new properties will yield different business groups and markets for the region. We have to continue to capitalize when we have an opportunity to expand our reach, refresh our brands and to always have something new to bring visitors back. That’s why new developments like the Tampa Riverwalk are so important, why food halls are so important and why Busch Gardens updating and adding its roller coasters is significant because it gives people a reason to want to come back to Tampa Bay. Sustainability in this industry has to do with still being aggressive and still going after it.