Hillsborough sees best September ever for tourism

With Hillsborough County, where September was the county's best September in history, and it's not an isolated spike. Five of the first nine months of this year have set new revenue records. Visit Tampa Bay says there's still plenty of momentum heading into the holiday season. Fox 13's Jennifer Veglise joins us live outside the Tampa Convention Center. All right, Jennifer, what's behind all this growth? Yeah, Haley, this convention center was busy with some major events in the month of September. Tampa Comic-Con brought in roughly $3.5 million of economic impact. And then there was Juice Plus Live that brought in about $3.3 million. And those are just two examples of why we're seeing these record numbers so far this year. Now, in total, September 2026 brought in 18,000 room bookings in a single month, generating an estimated $14 million in economic impact. Visit Tampa Bay says that put the occupancy rate at 64.5%, which is about 6% higher than September 2025. And September wasn't the only record breaker. Five of the first nine months of this year have brought in more tourism revenue than ever before. For context, Visit Tampa Bay CEO Santiago Corrada says only two... Months of last year set records during all of that year, and those numbers were helped by people needing housing after the hurricanes. So what's different this year? So you talk about conventions, meetings, concerts, sporting events, leisure, domestic and international travelers. We're humming on all things, so it's really hard to say any one thing because you have You have this layering of things. And the momentum appears to be carrying into the fall. Corrada says preliminary October numbers are also looking strong, with tourism revenue up nearly 20% compared to October of last year. And the holiday season is bringing another wave of attractions, including Curtis Hixon Winter Village, the Christmas Town at Busch Gardens, and Christmas in the Wild at Zoo Tampa. But there is one caveat around November and December. The holidays bring in a lot of folks, but to see their families, We're often going to stay with them rather than booking a hotel room or an Airbnb. So it's unclear right now if we will see those record numbers in the months of November and December, but you never know. Yeah, just another chance to get them here in Tampa Bay. Maybe they love it and they're going to want to come back another time of year and stay at the beach. All right, Jennifer, thank you.