FYI Miami: May 23, 2024

Below are some of the FYIs in this week’s edition. The entire content of this week’s FYIs and Insider sections is available by subscription only. To subscribe click here.

HOTEL OCCUPANCY RISES: Greater Miami topped the nation in hotel occupancy in the first quarter of this year, up 3.3% from the same period of 2023, the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau highlighted on Tuesday in its annual meeting at PortMiami. In March alone, the bureau said, the county posted a 1.6% increase in revenue per available hotel room as occupancy rose 2.3% compared to March 2023. The county had 27.2 million visitors in 2023, generating an estimated $21.2 billion in spending, up 2% year over year, meeting attendees were told. During 2023, the region saw 17.3 million hotel room nights sold, up 0.3% from 2022. The meeting heard that tourism generated almost $30 billion in overall economic impact in the county last year, representing 9% of Miami-Dade’s gross domestic product.

MORE FLYING: After setting passenger records again last year, Miami International Airport is on a far faster pace this year, handling 1.5 million more passengers in the first quarter this year than in the same quarter of 2023, the county’s Aviation Department reports. In the first three months this year the airport had 14.9 million travelers, up 11.6% from the comparable period last year, when the total was 13.3 million. International travel was up 12% to 6.5 million passengers, and domestic travel grew 11.3% to 8.3 million. Last year the airport handled 52.3 million passengers, up more than 3% from 2022.

MORE SHIPPING: Cargo at Miami International Airport is also on a faster pace than last year, moving 5% more freight than in the first quarter of 2023, rising to 715,780 tons. The growth was all in international cargo, which increased by 7.6% to 599,627 tons. Meanwhile, domestic cargo declined 6.7% to 116,153 tons. Last year the airport handled a record 2.78 million tons of cargo, sixth-busiest airport in the world for cargo. 

NO WINDMILLS, NO CHINA: Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an energy law that repeals parts of state law about greenhouse-gas emissions and another that calls for ending state investments in companies linked to the Chinese government and military. He said the laws “will keep windmills off our beaches, gas in our tanks, and China out of our state.” In a post on the social-media platform X, he wrote “We’re restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots. Furthermore, we’re going to ensure foreign adversaries like China have no foothold in our state.” The energy law bans offshore wind-energy generation and calls for the Florida Public Service Commission to develop a “cost-effective” energy infrastructure “resilient to natural and manmade threats.”