Staff Writer
Lawmaking also makes a positive economic impact in Florida’s capital.
The 60-day, and sometimes longer, legislative session is a proverbial gold mine for Tallahassee area businesses, which often depend on the annual summits to boost business throughout the year.
Just how big is the financial boost?
Each week of session brings an economic bump on par with a Florida State University home football game, about $2 million.
“It certainly is a big deal for us,” said Kerri Post, senior marketing director for Visit Tallahassee, the city’s visitor bureau. “Especially in this economic downturn.”
So far, this session has been a “mixed bag,” said Post, as local businesses have reported various degrees of patronage. Hotels, especially those in the downtown core, have reported most rooms being sold out throughout session, yet quantity doesn’t always equal the quality of years past as rates have fallen in the economy.
There’s generally a two-month reporting lapse for bed-tax collections, she said, but the downtown core is as busy as ever and generates optimism for the current session’s impact.
As for the traffic in the Visit Tallahassee office, it’s been up between 40 and 50 percent since March.
Mark Bonn, professor in the FSU College of Business Dedman School of Hospitality, conducted a study regarding the impact of banning legislative gifting in 2007. He agreed with the $2 million-a-week impact for the city. He said the study showed that an additional $500,000 or so was the effect of the ban and has been felt by local businesses.
Since the study, though, more venues and establishments have sprung up around the city that could add to that $2 million figure. In addition, the impact of groups who caravan to town for a day with prepared meals could alter figures, but even many of those come back.
“Even if they’re here, it’s an opportunity, from a tourism standpoint, to get them information,” he said.
Session also spans both the tail end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second, making an exact economic impact hard to discern, but anyone who has been to Tallahassee in March or April can see the economic windfall.
“It’s much more of an impact for us,” said Bonn. “Combined with spending by constituents, the numbers are even bigger.”
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