CLEARWATER, Fla. — Visit St. Pete-Clearwater released its fiscal year 2025 Pinellas County bed tax collection last Wednesday which showed it was only down $4 million from the previous year despite the back-to-back hurricanes that devastated the area.

What You Need To Know

Fiscal year 2025 Pinellas County bed tax collections were $92.5 million 

Clearwater and St. Petersburg were the leading producers of the bed tax  

The 2025 bed tax was 4.4 percent or $4 million lower than in 2024 

September visitor numbers were 14.4% higher than the previous year and helped to boost the annual total

“We were down 4.4 percent,” said Eddie Kirsch, VSPC Digital and Data Director. “Considering we just went through two massive hurricanes this past year, it shows the resiliency of our area that I think is really worth noting.”   

The fiscal year runs from October 2024 to September 2025. Kirsch said the September visitor numbers were higher than the previous year and helped to boost the annual total.

“September development tax was… over 14-and-a-half percent above 2024,” he said. “That’s great numbers. We had about $4.8 million in collections.”

The leading bed tax producing cities for 2025 were Clearwater, which brought in about $27 million and downtown St. Petersburg, which collected about $13 million, according to VSPC. The total bed tax collections for fiscal year 2025 was $92.5 million. Collections in 2024 were $96.7 million, 2023 was $98 million and 2022 was $95 million.

“There’s not a whole lot of destinations out there that collect over $90 million annually,” said Brian Lowack, VSPC Pres. and CEO. “We’ve done it four years in a row, which is remarkable given last year’s event.”

Lowack credited the newer infrastructure on Clearwater Beach for those hotels bouncing back faster, compared to older construction in south county areas like St. Pete Beach, which still have a few big hotels closed for repairs from the storms.

“Some of the folks who would typically come down… maybe in the southern portion of the county,” he said. “Maybe they tried out a different destination on Clearwater Beach or St. Pete this year.”

The Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach General Manager Seth McDaniels said Hurricane Helene sent 6 feet of water into the basement of the hotel, causing multi-million dollars in damage, but luckily none of the front-facing guest areas were affected. McDaniels said the Wyndham reopened about a week after Hurricane Milton passed.

“As soon as the bridge opened, I think it was seven days later, we were able to open the hotel up for business,” he said. “That was great for the community, for our team, to get back to work.”

McDaniels said the hotel bounced back better than expected.

“We recovered in a strong way, especially on occupancy,” he said. “We really only lost from 2024 three months out of the year. Everything else… we exceeded our occupancy expectations and year over year.”

The general manager credits his staff and the VSPC “Still Shining” campaign for helping to get the word out after the storms that the area was open.

“I think the biggest piece of it was really just kind of informing and giving confidence to our guests that we’re open for business,” he said. “Our team did an amazing job… We had drone shows. We put lists of all the restaurants in the area, bars, that were open.”

The Pinellas County bed tax is used to market the area to visitors. It’s also used for capital projects that draw visitors, like beach renourishment or remodeling the Palladium Theater.