FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla — More than three years into Hurricane Ian recovery, Fort Myers Beach is hitting a bit of a reality check. New tourism data shows hotel capacity might not climb much higher… and the future could depend on new construction.
Tourist season is in full swing on Fort Myers Beach. The coastline is packed, and restaurants are busy. But when it comes to hotel rooms… it’s a different story.
Watch to hear what could be at stake for FMB's hotel room recovery:
At Thursday’s Lee County Tourism Development Council meeting, members shared a graph showing just 58% of pre-Ian rooms are available.
“I think we’re at that point where we’re not going to see these numbers change very much, it’s going to be new construction that brings back units that were lost as a result of Hurricane Ian,” said a council member.
The council said that 58% is essentially the new 100%… that they don’t expect many more hotel re-openings.
But Pink Shell Beach Resort & Marina president Bill Waichulis says less overall inventory is actually helping his resort.
“We’ve stayed busy, even last year, we were jamming over 80% occupancy. We’re busy now, you can’t beat 80 degrees and what is it 40 in Chicago now?,” said Waichulis.
The tourism council says Fort Myers Beach has always leaned more on vacation rentals than hotels. They say most of the redevelopment since Ian has followed that trend. They also say if developers are going to invest in new hotels, many of the island’s attractions need to come back online.
“It’s a financial concern and an ROI - gotta get the people back before you build, and you gotta build to get the people back,” said a council member.
And Waichulis agrees. “You still have Bowditch not completed, you don’t have Lynn Hall Park finished, Crescent Beach, the Pier, the traffic light at Times Square… you get all those done and then people don’t realize you had a hurricane,” said Waichulis.
Despite that, Waichulis says he’s optimistic about the future here.
“Getting the Pier finished, you got a new terminal coming in at RSW at the airport - another 10,000 visitors a day - those are all great headwinds for this area,” Waichulis said.
