Sarasota News Leader
December 21, 2012
Page 27
He concurred with Haley that tourism has 2012 season, Haley added, ���and [this] was a
been strong on Siesta this fall.
good year.���
In an email this week to the Sarasota County Once again, she said, she thought she would
Commission, Haley also pointed to an article see a leveling off in those figures, ���but I���m haptitled, 36 Hours in Sarasota, which ran in the py to be wrong.���
New York Times travel section on Dec. 16.
Through the 2012 fiscal year, the county colWritten by Geraldine Fabrikant, it begins,
lected $13,900,196.44 in tourist development
���Where else can one spend the morning reveling in the beauty of works by Peter Paul tax revenue, according to the Sarasota County
Rubens, Frans Hals and Botticelli and the Tax Collector���s Office. That was an increase
afternoon lolling on a powdery white sand of $2,418,541.46 over the 2011 figure.
beach? That is the lure of Sarasota, the city
Haley noted that with consumer confidence
perched on the Gulf of Mexico where John
and Mable Ringling, the circus impresario and up to the highest level in four years, she hopes
his wife, set the stage for a vibrant cultural life the 2013 season will be as strong as those early signs indicate.
after buying land there in 1911.���
Already, the pace of bookings for visits during ���By and large,��� Cooper said, ���the feedback I���m
the 2013 season is ahead of the figures for the getting is fantastic.��� %
Venice���s beaches also draw their share of tourists. Photo by Norman Schimmel
