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Super Bowl drives up bay area hotel rates
By MARK ALBRIGHT © St. Petersburg Times, published March 6, 2001 Thanks to the Super Bowl, hotel rates soared higher in the Tampa Bay area in January than in any of the other 25 biggest tourist markets in the country. Normally an off-month for tourism, January 2001 performed more like a peak-season winter month for the local hotel industry because of a week of NFL championship hoopla, Smith Travel Research reported Monday. For the month, the hotel occupancy rate jumped 5.1 percentage points to 67.5 percent. The average daily room rate was $105.75, up 21 percent from $87.50 the previous January. Room revenues soared 35.6 percent. Nationally, the hotel occupancy rate for January was 52 percent, up a modest 1.2 percentage points. The average room rate increased 4.2 percent to $87.40. And room revenue increased 9.8 percent. The local hotel industry's room rate gain topped all major markets but was just slightly ahead of a 20 percent gain recorded by the Washington metro area, where hotels were jammed for the presidential inauguration. The average room rate there was $127.85, up from $106.92. "It's amazing what a Super Bowl can do," said Paul Catoe, president and CEO of the Tampa Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau in Tampa. "We plan to apply for another one as soon as the NFL will let us."
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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