Tourism, real estate gun-shy as another storm season begins

Tourism and real estate officials are skittish about the upcoming hurricane season that kicked off Thursday.

After two active seasons in which two major hurricanes have affected Southwest Florida, another blow this season could spell disaster for both industries that are considered cornerstones of the region’s economy, experts said.

“We are in a pretty precarious position, and for a lot of different reasons,” said Ross McIntosh, a real estate land broker who often is called upon to make speeches about real estate trends, including an annual update. “We should be praying for a peaceful hurricane season.”

McIntosh said there are four homes for sale on his block, and one was put up by a longtime Collier family whose sole reason for selling is to avoid another hurricane season.

He acknowledged this isn’t a scientific survey. But he pointed to other factors that indicate the active hurricane seasons of the past two years already have started to affect the real estate market.

For example, McIntosh said, a New York real estate broker recently informed him that the string of hurricanes that hit Florida in the past few years have soured some on the idea of investing in real estate.

“The broker said, ‘Ross, don’t you think the bottom is going to fall out of real estate in Florida because of hurricanes? Nobody I talk to up here (in New York) wants to go to Florida anymore,’ ” McIntosh said.

McIntosh said it’s not just the publicity tied to the string of hurricanes to hit Florida in the past few years that is causing buyers to think twice.

He said news coverage of Hurricane Katrina has left a false impression that all hurricanes can deliver that kind of devastating blow.

“They are thinking about the New Orleans experience,” McIntosh said. “That’s what they imagine, total catastrophe, and people stranded in buildings. Not what we’ve experienced.”

The county’s tourism office also is concerned about Southwest Florida being affected again from a hurricane.

“Another very active hurricane season here will certainly make our job that much tougher in the future,” Collier tourism director Jack Wert said. “All we can really do is put our plans together, and try to overcome as much negative publicity as we can.”

Group business at hotels — which for years has helped fill rooms during the latter part of the summer — plunged in August and September last year.

Based on hotel reservations, it is expected to do the same this year.

In response, the county has embarked on a marketing campaign to fill rooms during those months with family leisure visitors and in-state groups.

Wert said trade associations and corporations are being contacted.

“We feel that Florida-based meeting planners know how to plan around a storm, and therefore might be a better target than somebody from out of state who absolutely doesn’t understand at all,” Wert said.

A state meeting planners’ association is also being solicited for business, he said.

Wert said in-state planners can book an event on much shorter notice than out-of-state groups.

And he said more in-state groups are taking advantage of insurance being offered through the state’s official tourism agency, Visit Florida.

Under the program, the costs can be reimbursed, should a hurricane have an impact on a group event.

“For a savvy meeting planner, that makes sense,” Wert said. “They know they can stay at some of the best resorts for a lot better price than they might have had to pay during season. They are interested in planning their meetings in the summer months so they can afford to go to those kinds of places.”

Collier’s tourism office also is contacting reporters in northern states to convince them to write stories documenting how well Southwest Florida has recovered from the hurricanes.

“We think that is the message we need to get out, so we can overcome some of this negative feeling from last year,” Wert said. “People thought we were really more damaged than we were.”

Moreover, the tourism office also has modified its television commercial promoting the area to include more family shots. The goal is for leisure business to make up for lost group business.

Wert said the ads this year aren’t running only on Florida’s east coast, but also in Tampa and Orlando.

“We think that’s a good potential for us, to let people know they can get to some places they may have never visited before, at affordable rates,” he said.

Television advertisements are also running in New York and Chicago.

The Collier County Commission’s approval of an extra penny bed tax is giving the tourism office an extra million dollars this year for its marketing campaign.

Wert said he believes his office has done all it can to overcome the stigma from recent hurricanes, and to respond if another one hits. Should another major storm hit, e-mails will be fired off to regular visitors detailing how the county fared during the storm.

“I think we’ve improved upon our online presence,” Wert said. “Most of our hurricane response will be online, and direct e-mail to our database of not only leisure travelers, but meeting planners as well.”

The Collier County chapter of the American Red Cross believes it is well-prepared for this season. But officials aren’t sure how successful fundraising will be after two extremely busy hurricane seasons.

“Your guess is as good as ours,” said Deborah Horvath, the executive director for the Collier chapter of American Red Cross. “We’re hoping for the best.”

Horvath said that organization has been keeping in touch with past donors to inform them of how the Red Cross has been helping hurricane victims.

“We send a thank-you (note) for anything, a dollar (contribution). And we try and give them information about what has been done with that money,” she said. “We opened over 200 cases for Katrina victims. We spent over $1 million in Collier on Hurricane Wilma, those kind of things. There is no question it is going to be a challenge (to raise more funds).”