PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — It’s great news for St. Pete Beach. Closed since Hurricane Helene, The Don Cesar will finally reopen in March, according to an email the hotel sent Thursday.
Tenley Noone can hardly wait.
“I’m so proud of them,” she said.
Noone is a local, and even though the emptier beaches have been nice, she says the area needs visitors to return and the iconic hotel to reopen.
“I mean, a lot of people are impacted when it closed, and a lot of businesses rely on that tourism. It’s our main source of income,” she said.
Charlie Justice, the President of the Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce, knows that firsthand.
“Pinellas County — 100,000 families rely on tourism for their jobs,” he said.
He says the Don Cesar’s reopening can’t be overstated.
“That Pink Palace being open is a great symbol for our recovery,” Justice said.
But it’s not just The Don. With spring break just around the corner, Justice says many restaurants, shops, and hotels are now open.
Visitors are returning too. Justice says occupancy rates are in line with previous years, but there is a need for more rooms.
“The occupancy — we need it,” he said. “We have folks that want to come. We need that occupancy.”
He says the area also needs more visitors — tourists and locals — to pump more cash into the local economy.
“Having cash come in the door is really, really critical,” he said. “Once that happens, then our restaurants know that they can bring back full staff.”
Over the last two months, the ABC Action News I-Team has sent the names and information of nearly 300 people who were stuck in an "adjudication hold" to the Florida Department of Commerce. But now, some people have followed up to let the I-Team know after sharing their stories, they are finally getting the relief they desperately need.
