Boats and a tour boat in the water along the docks at the Riviera Beach City Marina.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DISCOVER THE PALM BEACHES

Staff Report

Discover The Palm Beaches year-end hotel performance data shows 7.89 million visitors came to The Palm Beaches from January to December, a 7.3 percent visitation increase over 2016.

Discover The Palm Beaches is the official tourism marketing corporation for Palm Beach County.

The total increase in visitation was driven by a 7.9 percent increase in domestic visitors (United States), compared to 2016. The largest domestic markets were New York with an 11 percent increase (1.1 million visitors), Miami/Fort Lauderdale with an 8 percent increase (808,700 visitors), Tampa/St. Petersburg with an 11 percent increase, and Orlando with a 4 percent increase (516,800 visitors). Visitation also increased from Washington, D.C. by 13-percent (310,400 visitors), which can be partly attributed to the opening of The Ballpark of The Palm Beaches. Most of the visitors to The Palm Beaches (7.1 million) were domestic, while a 0.9 percent increase (745,000 visitors) came from international regions including a 2 percent increase in Canada (321,270), a 8 percent increase in Argentina (36,620) and a 2 percent increase in Brazil (28,100). Overall, the number of hotel room nights sold, 4.6 million, represented a 4.9 percent increase over the previous year.