Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) President & CEO William D. Talbert, III, CDME announced today that overnight visitors to larger Miami and the Beaches increased +3.5% to a record-breaking 13.9 million overnight visitors in 2012, fueled by a +5.2% increase to a record 6.8 million international visitors and a rise of +1.8% to a record 7.1 million domestic visitors.
This marks the third consecutive year of record overnight visitors to the destination.
A record $21.8 billion in visitor expenditures was generated in 2012, a rise of +5.1% over the former year with international expenditures representing 70% of the entire vs domestic. 2012 marked the fourth consecutive year of records on records for visitor spending.
“For the third year in a row, the strength of the Miami brand continued to draw record overnight visitors, generating record employment within the leisure and hospitality industry,” says Steven Haas, Chairman of the GMCVB Board of Directors.
“With a brand new record high of 112,300 industry jobs in 2012, Travel and Tourism continued to set the pace for the community’s recovery from the recession with three consecutive years of increased employment.”
In July 2012, the GMCVB unveiled its new branding campaign to capture its evolution by launching the “It’s So Miami” program in top global markets, including Big apple, Brazil and Germany.
The new tagline and eye-catching imagery showcases contrasting visuals of iconic destination scenes juxtaposed with people cashing in on cultural attractions. The brand new campaign captures the vibe and diversity of lifestyle in Greater Miami and The Beaches. “
The Bureau’s aggressive marketing and expansion of the preferred summer and shoulder season promotions, including Miami Museum Month, Miami Romance Month, Miami Spice Restaurant Month, Miami Spa Month, Miami Attractions Month and Miami Live Music Month were enjoyed by more visitors and residents than ever in 2012,” says Talbert.
During 2012, the GMCVB continued its international expansion to 40 locations in 30 countries, which included extensive expansion within the Brazil market. Cities/countries added to the worldwide network in 2012 included The big apple, San Francisco, Jamaica, Bahamas and extra cities in Brazil.
Among the pinnacle 25 hotel markets within the U.S., Greater Miami and the Beaches’ ranked #4 for revenue per available room (RevPar), a rise of +7.9% in 2012 to a record $124.92. Hotel room occupancy also ranked #4 with a rise of +1.3% to a record annual average of 76.4%, and average daily room rate (ADR) ranked #4 with a rise of +6.6% to an all time high of $163.59.
A record 13.4 million hotel room nights were sold in 2012, representing a +2.5% increase over the former year. These sales generated a record $60.4 million in Convention Development Tax (CDT), a +8.5% increase over 2011 CDT collections.
A record 19.8 million passengers were welcomed on the new Miami International Airport (MIA) in 2012, a +3.0% increase over 2011, which incorporates a record 9.8 million international passengers up +5.3% over 2011 and a record 10 million domestic passengers up +0.9% over 2011.
With 96%of overnight visitors to bigger Miami and the Beaches arriving by air in 2012, Miami International Airport is very important to the success and growth of the travel and tourism industry.
“Both MIA and the PortMiami are pillars of our travel and tourism industry,” states Talbert. Inside the last quarter of 2012, PortMiami welcomed an unprecedented seven new cruise ships in eight weeks further solidifying the port’s ranking as Cruise Capital of the area.
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