The tourism industry in southwest Florida is hoping that 2016 is a repeat or better of 2015. Final numbers are pending, but Lee and Collier counties are expecting to set record bed tax collections as over 100 million people visited the area. Airline service continues growing in the region, with Allegiant Air now serving 28 cities from Punta Gorda, where passenger numbers for November were 33 percent higher than last year. Tourism is responsible for about one out of every five jobs in the region.
