Spring Breakers Begin Invading Pinellas County This Week

Correction: The original story gave incorrect figures for the amount of bed taxes collected in Pinellas County. Pinellas collected $95 million in 2022, up from $78 million the year before.

CLEARWATER, FL — Just in time for the throngs of students anticipated to descend on Clearwater for spring break, the Clearwater Traffic Engineering Division has implemented a pilot program at the Clearwater Beach roundabout designed to improve safety and relieve congestion.

More than 50,000 vehicles drive through the Clearwater Beach roundabout on a typical spring break day, according to the city.

The pilot program is aimed at improving safety and traffic on and off Clearwater Beach.

As a result, the following changes have been made:

• The outside roundabout lane south of Mandalay Avenue will be forced to go south on Coronado Drive.
• Those in the inner lane will still be able to exit onto Coronado Drive or continue in the roundabout.

The city says those who drive to Clearwater Beach during the spring break season should add 45 minutes to one hour to their travel time to accommodate traffic and parking.

The program will be reviewed after it's in place for six months to determine if safety improves. Street markings and flexible posts will be installed in the area to alert drivers of the changes.

Park And Ride

To reduce the amount of traffic on Clearwater roads during the busy spring break season, Clearwater has teamed up with the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority for the fifth year on the free Park & Ride program that offers beach visitors a place to park in a free designated lot, and then ride the Jolley Trolley or the bus shuttle to Clearwater Beach for free.

"Clearwater Beach continues to thrive as one of the top destinations in the state of Florida. While there is plenty of room to spread out over three miles of our sugar sand beaches, finding a place to park your vehicle can be challenging at times,” said Lisa Chandler, operator of the Pier 60 concessions and founder of the Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival. “Alternative modes of transportation like the Jolley Trolley, buses and water taxi services are crucial to the success of our barrier-island economy and vitality, as they offer a convenient, cost-effective way to experience the best of Clearwater Beach.”

The free Park & Ride service runs from March 1 to April 30:

• Monday through Thursday, every 30 minutes, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Friday to Sunday, every 15 minutes from 10 a.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and until 10 p.m. on Sundays.

Beach-goers can park for free any day of the week at the former Clearwater City Hall, 112 S Osceola Ave.

Additional parking will be available Friday, Saturday and Sunday at:

• 310 Court St. (County Garage)
• 450 Oak Ave.
• 440 Court St.

For more information on parking in Clearwater, click here.

Additionally, the Clearwater Ferry carries beach-goers to Clearwater Beach and Dunedin, allowing them to park for free in downtown Clearwater and Dunedin, thus avoiding heavy beach-going traffic.

The ferry departs from downtown Clearwater with stops at the Clearwater Beach Marina, Clearwater Marine Aquarium/Island Estates, North Beach Recreation Center and downtown Dunedin. For reservations, click here.

Get Ready For Spring Breakers

Clearwater residents tend to cringe at the words "spring break," knowing the season is going to bring more traffic, bigger crowds and round-the-clock parties.

However, before condemning spring break as the bane of the permanent residents, Visit St. Pete/Clearwater, Pinellas County's tourism marketing agency, reminds residents that spring break doesn't only bring headaches; it brings millions of dollars in revenue to Pinellas County.

According to Visit Florida, the state's tourism bureau, an estimated 570,000 students will visit the Sunshine State this year for spring break, which has its peak weeks on March 11 to 18 and March 18 to 25.

Visit St. Pete/Clearwater CEO and President Steve Hayes said thousands of spring breakers are already filling hotel rooms throughout Pinellas County. But the current crowds are nothing compared to the numbers residents will see in just two weeks.

In Tampa Bay, 99,417 college and university students and more than 400,000 public school students in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties are off school for spring break the week of March 14-18.

And with the pandemic now over, for the most part, Visit St. Pete/Clearwater is anticipating a big year for tourism.

"Tourism looks very positive going forward this year," said Hayes, noting that Florida's peak tourism season is from March to August.

He said all estimates show Pinellas County will surpass the 15 million visitors who came in 2022.

Those tourists, Hayes said, will infuse Pinellas County with $6.8 billion in direct spending and support more than 100,000 local jobs, most of which are employed at small businesses, for a total economic impact of $10.8 billion in Pinellas County.

Last year, tourists spent 162,000 nights at Pinellas County hotels, amounting to $12.3 million worth of hotel bookings. And the county collects 6 percent of all those bookings through its tourist development tax, also called the bed tax.

The tax is applied to overnight stays at every hotel, motel, bed and breakfast, vacation beach cottage, RV park and condominium and home that are available for short-term stays.

Last year the tax generated $95 million for Pinellas County, up from $78 million in 2021, said Hayes.

Clearwater generated the most tourist development taxes in the county —about 34 percent — followed by St. Petersburg, which contributed about 7 percent.

To further lure tourists to Pinellas, Hayes said Visit St. Pete/Clearwater launched a new advertising campaign last year titled "Let's Shine."

Additionally, the tourism bureau partnered with Keep Pinellas Beautiful and TikTok influencer Caulin Donaldson (@TrashCaulin), a tireless beach cleanup advocate with 1.4 million TikTok followers, for an award-winning responsible travel campaign, "Unwind and Be Kind."

Spring break and family vacations aren't the county's only source of tourism dollars.

Hayes said the Pinellas County Film Commission, a branch of Visit St. Pete/Clearwater, has the only film incentive program in the state. As a result, 18 feature films were filmed in Pinellas County last year, the most ever in a single year, with an economic impact of more than $2 million.

Already the spring training homes of two Major League Baseball teams — the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin and the Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater — Hayes said the county has attracted 119 major sporting events including the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the Valspar Professional Golf Association tournament at Palm Harbor’s Innisbrook Golf and Spa Resort, the U.S. Open Sailing Series, the Clearwater Nationals boat-racing championships and the Gator Nationals BMX supercross world championship in Oldsmar.

In all, sports events had a 109 million economic impact on Pinellas County.

School Spring Break Schedules

Residents of Clearwater, Dunedin and surrounding communities who would prefer to avoid crowds may want to skip the beach on the following weeks when Florida universities, colleges and public schools will be on spring break:

• Florida State University - March 11 to 19
• University of South Florida - March 14 to 18
• Saint Leo University - March 14 to 18
• University of Florida - March 11 to 18
• University of Tampa - March 5 to 12
• University of Central Florida - March 14 to 18
• Hillsborough Community College - March 14 to 18
• Pasco-Hernando State College - March 6 to 12
• St. Petersburg College - March 11 to 19
• Eckerd College - March 18 to 26
• New College - March 20 to 24
• Hillsborough County Schools - March 14 to 18
• Pinellas County Schools - March 14 to 18
• Pasco County Schools - March 14 to 18