Sarasota County had the strongest April ever for tourism, officials said Thursday. The county saw a 3.8 percent increase in visitors when compared with the previous same month in 2016, according to Virginia Haley, president of Visit Sarasota County. Occupancy jumped to 78.7 percent from 76.6 percent the year before, and room rates increased 3.6 percent to an average of $204.26. This year also was also the first time that Sarasota County collected more than $2 million in tourism development tax in the month of April, Haley told the Herald-Tribune. Visit Florida estimated that 2.7 million overseas visitors and 1.2 million Canadians came to Florida in the second quarter. Estimates also show that 21.9 million domestic visitors traveled to Florida in the second quarter, a 6.8 percent increase over the previous year.
