As the winter months approach, business in southwestern Florida would have been starting to pick up.
. Fisherman’s Wharf, a heavily touristed area, turned into a dusty and surreal scene, with boats capsized far from their usual moorings. Dust and the rancid smell of hardening muck still fill the air.
Tourists lift the region’s economy during winter as do snowbirds with vacation homes to escape the chill in the upper Midwest, the Northeast and Canada. “That’s where our business comes from,” Maguire said. However, the number of airport passengers in southwest Florida had already fallen in July 2022, slumping 13% from a year before, according to an economic study of the region by Florida Gulf Coast University. Tourist tax revenues were down 2% for the region, with Lee County down 4%. The study partly blames inflation for that downturn.
Lee County’s population is almost 788,000 people. It’s difficult to say exactly how much the population increases from snowbirds, but a substitute measurement — gross retail sales — historically jumps by almost a third during the height of the season in January compared to the dog days of late summer.
Across the area, crews have been demolishing buildings teetering on their foundations. Homeowners tried to salvage what they could from their soaked homes — racing against time, mold and mildew.
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