Collier County tourism numbers improve in early 2026

Recently at a crucial crossroads, Collier County tourism numbers turned the corner during the first quarter of 2026. 

“January through March 2026 exceeded January through March 2025 across all your metrics: visitation, days in market, direct spending, economic impact, room nights, occupancy, average daily rate and revenue,” said Joseph St. Germain, president of Downs & St. Germain Research, while presenting the consulting firm’s quarterly report May 19 to the county’s Tourism Development Council. 

Collier’s visitation increased 5.5% to 849,000 from January through March, and those visitors spent $1.149 billion, an increase of 8.5%, according to data compiled by Downs & St. Germain. 

Domestic visitation increased, while international tourism continued to be down in year-over-year comparisons. The number of visitors from within the United States increased 7.1% in first-quarter data between 2025 and 2026, with tourists from the Northeast showing the biggest jump at 14.6%. Visitation to Collier from outside the U.S. was down 6.2%, with a 16.2% decline in Canadian tourists marking the largest drop. 

Hotel industry data showed positive trends in Collier County during the first quarter with a 1.5% increase in hotel room supply. The hotel average daily rate was $477.40, a 9.2% year-over-year increase; and hotel occupancy was 75.9%, a 1.7% improvement. Hotel leisure and group demand recorded 4.5% and 0.7% increases, respectively. 

Year-over-year numbers for March were particularly promising with increases of 6.5% for visitation, 8% for direct spending by visitors and 11.4% for the hotel average daily rate. Domestic visitation in March increased 7.1%, while international tourism was down only 0.5% from March 2025. “At least for March, you kind of held steady, which frankly, is a win right now based upon what we’re seeing in other places when it comes to the international market,” St. Germain said. 

Collier’s high average daily rate of more than $500 is notable with an occupancy rate of 76.5% in March, St. Germain said. 

“I think the only comp set that competes with that is Key West, so it’s a fairly high rate while also holding a fairly strong occupancy overall for March,” he said. 

Tourism development tax revenue for March was more than $7.93 million, resulting in a total this year of more than $25.9 million, Jay Tusa, executive tourism director of the Naples, Marco Island, Everglades Convention & Visitors Bureau, told the TDC during his director’s report. Tourist development taxes are generated from the county’s 5% bed tax, revenues from visitors who stay at hotels, Airbnbs and other rentals of six months or less. The tax is used to fund marketing for the Paradise Coast area, as well as beach maintenance, Paradise Coast Sports Complex and other tourism-related attractions and activities. If approved during the November ballot, the tax will increase by 1%. 

The FY 2027 revenue from the tourist development tax is projected to be $41,811,300, which is 5% above the FY 2026 budget. 

In new business at the May 19 meeting, the TDC unanimously passed the CVB’s overall budget after it narrowly recommended to approve the FY 2027 proposed marketing budget funded by the tourist development tax. The 5-4 vote was influenced by a proposed decrease in the advertising budget baseline. 

“We were just trying to give you more money,” said TDC Chair Burt Saunders, who questioned why the tourism agency is budgeting $9 million for fiscal 2027 when about $11 million was spent during each of the last two years. 

“We feel comfortable that we had a greater influx of dollars the past two years based on the market, and we feel comfortable where we’re at now,” Tusa said. “We can reduce that a little bit and we can evaluate that as we move forward. Certainly, if we see a need to increase that budget, we can come back to the council and the board at a later date. But, as of right now, we feel comfortable with that number.” 

TDC member Bill Kramer said he feels as if the budget probably should be increased to $12 million, which could be whittled down if necessary. “With inflation, I can’t imagine it being less than $11 million,” Kramer said. “It just doesn’t make sense to me.” 

The TDC decisions will be considered during the budget workshop planned June 18 by the Board of County Commissioners. 

For its next three-month snapshot, Downs & St. Germain surveyed the local market to see if property reservations are generally up, down or the same when compared to April, May and June last year. Of the respondents, 36% report that reservations are up, 27% said down and 37% report they are roughly the same. 

“That’s a statistical equivalent of a shrug emoji,” St. Germain said. “You know, it’s not bad, it’s not good, it’s just kind of the same. But, if we look at compared to a year ago, a year ago nearly three out of 5 of your hoteliers thought things would be down, so it’s progress.”