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Relevant News About Southwest Florida

Gulfshore Business - June 24th ,2024

Southwest Florida International Airport served 843,270 passengers in May, marking an 11% year-over-year increase, according to Lee County Port Authority data. It was the second-best May reported in the 41-year history of the south Fort Myers airport. Year-to-date, passenger traffic is up 21%. The traffic leader in May was Delta, with 192,204 passengers. Rounding out the top five airlines were Southwest (150,279), American (146,034), United (133,218) and JetBlue (71,519). RSW had 6,945 combined arrivals and departures, a 0.2% decrease compared to May 2023. Page Field in Fort Myers saw 16,861 arrivals and departures, a 13% year-over-year decrease.

Gulfshore Business - May 8th ,2024

New data from state tourism marketing arm Visit Florida shows the Sunshine State maintained its position as the top domestic tourism destination in the U.S. and ranks second in the country for international tourism. In 2023, Florida's market share of domestic tourists increased to 14.8%, up from 13.8% in 2022. As the recovery of international travel continued, the state garnered 25.2% of the overseas market share of travelers to the U.S. In March, overseas visitation to Florida surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time, with a 1.7% increase compared to March 2019. Notably, visitation from key markets, such as the U.K., Germany and Mexico saw significant growth, with U.K. visitation up by 12%, German visitation up by 28%, and Mexican visitation up 61% compared to the same month in 2019.

Gulfshore Business - April 30th ,2024

Fort Myers was ranked the third best small city to start a business, according to a report from personal-finance website WalletHub. To determine the most business-friendly small markets in the U.S., WalletHub compared more than 1,300 cities with fewer than 100,000 residents across 18 key metrics. The data set ranges from small business growth rates and the accessibility of financing to investor access and labor costs. The report states Fort Myers has one of the highest numbers of investors per capita in the country, which improves the chances of startups finding the funding they need. This investment access allowed the number of small businesses in the city to grow by over 21% between 2015 and 2021. It ranks in the top 100 cities for office space affordability, at $12.20 per square foot, and for the number of startups per capita. Two Utah cities—Cedar City and St. George—ranked ahead of Fort Myers, with Washington, Utah, and Post Falls, Idaho, rounding out the top 5.

Gulfshore Business - January 26nd ,2024

Southwest Florida International Airport posted its best December for passenger traffic in its 41-year history. In total, 1,094,783 passengers traveled through the south Fort Myers airport, a 27% increase from December 2022, according to Lee County Port Authority data. RSW had 9,873 arrivals and departures, a 27% year-over-year increase. -Gulfshore Business

Gulfshore Business - January 17nd ,2023

Florida was the No. 1 destination for retirees in the last year, according to HireAHelper’s third annual retirement migration study. Florida topped the list for the first time after coming in second in 2020. Nearly 16% of all retirees choosing to retire out of state turned to Florida, the report shows. The Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville metro area was listed as the top metro destination for retirement moves, attracting 9.2% of them in 2022.

Gulfshore Business - January, 12th ,2023

Florida is the most popular state for a vacation in 2023, according to a study by vacation rental marketplace Florida Rentals. The company analyzed Google searches for each state on vacation packages, rentals and attractions. On average, the Sunshine State receives 115,110 searches from those looking to take a vacation each month. In addition to visitors from other states, more than 10 million overseas tourists visit the state annually. Hawaii checked in at No. 2 with an average of 125,590 monthly vacation searches annually, with California, Colorado and Maine rounding out the top five.

Gulfshore Business - December, 28rd ,2022

The Cape Coral-Fort Myers and Naples-Marco Island areas are ranked 12th and 28th, respectively, in Inspection Support Network’s Fastest-growing Midsize Metropolitan Areas in the U.S. Cape Coral-Fort Myers had a population of 787,976 in 2021, growing by 65,327 or 9% from 2016 to 2021. The most common origin for recent movers to the area was from the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach area. Naples-Marco Island’s population jumped by 20,535, or 5.6%, from 2016 to 2021. The area’s 2021 population was 385,980. The most common recent movers to the area were from the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area.

Gulfshore Business - September, 23rd ,2022

During August, 620,532 passengers traveled through Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, a 4% decrease compared to August 2021, according to Lee County Port Authority data. It was still the second-best August in the 39-year history of the airport. Year-to-date, passenger traffic is up 11% compared to last year. The traffic leader in August was Delta with 162,532 total passengers. Rounding out the top five airlines were Southwest (115,590), American (105,547), JetBlue (72,551) and United (68,624). RSW had 5,143 aircraft operations, a decrease of 23% compared to August 2021. Page Field saw 16,125 operations, an 82% increase compared to August 2021, which made it the best single month at the airport in nearly 40 years. 

Gulfshore Business - August 29th ,2022

During July, 671,225 passengers traveled through Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, according to Lee County Port Authority figures. This was a decrease of 17.6% compared to July 2021; however, still the second-best July in the 39-year history of the airport. Year-to-date, passenger traffic is up 13% compared to last year. The traffic leader in July was Delta with 177,355 total passengers. Rounding out the top five airlines were Southwest (132,296), American (122,450), JetBlue (72,852) and United (68,847). RSW had 5,213 aircraft operations, a decrease of 26% compared to July 2021. Page Field in Fort Myers saw 16,000 operations, a 58% increase compared to July 2021, which made it the best single month at Page Field in nearly 40 years

Gulfshore Business - August 25nd ,2022

No state is gaining more high-earning households than Florida, and it’s not even close, according to a study from SmartAsset. The study examined the inflow and outflow of tax filers making at least $200,000 in each state between 2019 and 2020. Despite losing 11,756 tax filers who reported at least $200,000 in income in 2020, the Sunshine State added 32,019 high-earning households that same year, a net addition of 20,263 high-income filers. Texas ranked second, followed by Arizona, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Gulfshore Business - August 2nd ,2022

During June, 663,141 passengers traveled through Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, a decrease of 21% compared to June 2021, according to Lee County Port Authority figures. Year-to-date, passenger traffic is up 17.6% compared to last year. The traffic leader for the month was Delta with 176,915 total passengers. Rounding out the top five airlines were Southwest (127,095), American (122,983), JetBlue (71,428) and United (67,716). RSW had 5,418 aircraft operations, a decrease of 26.5% compared to June 2021. Page Field in Fort Myers saw 14,284 operations, a 28% increase compared to June 2021

US News & World Report - July 8th,2022

Naples was ranked the safest place to live and Fort Myers checked in at No. 3 on U.S. News & World Report’s list of the Safest Places to Live in the U.S. in 2022-2023. The list was based on the metro areas’ murder and property crime rates per 100,000 people, determined by FBI crime reports. Port St. Lucie was No. 2 while Portland, Maine was No. 4 and Lakeland was No. 5. According to data from Coldwell Banker, Florida was the top-searched state by those looking to relocate and Naples joined Sarasota, Miami and Tampa as top-searched destinations.

Gulfshore Business - June 27th, 2022

Southwest Florida International Airport served 836,379 passengers last month, an 11.8% decrease over traffic from May 2021, according to a Lee County Port Authority report. Year-to-date, passenger traffic is up 24.6% at the Fort Myers airport compared to last year. The traffic leader in May was Delta, with 196,119 total passengers. Rounding out the top five airlines were Southwest (148,142), American (125,644), United (122,902) and JetBlue (103,645). RSW had 7,409 aircraft operations, a decrease of 19.5% compared to May 2021. Page Field saw 15,527 operations, a 28% increase compared to May 2021

Fox 4 - Fort Myers, June 1, 2022

Southwest Florida is growing fast, and the numbers prove it. According to the Census Bureau, Fort Myers is the sixth fastest-growing city in the nation. The reason for the growth, it appears to be about location. When other parts of Florida boomed, Mayor Kevin Anderson says the city was right behind. Data shows from July 2020 to 2021, Fort Myers grew by nearly seven-percent. -Read More

Gulfshore Business, May 27, 2022

During April, 1,221,628 passengers traveled through Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, an increase of 10.4% compared to April 2021, marking the fifth consecutive month serving over 1 million passengers. Year-to-date, passenger traffic is up 34% compared to last year. The traffic leader in April was Delta, with 267,699 total passengers. Rounding out the top five airlines were United (172,727), Southwest (170,801), JetBlue (154,100) and American (130,291). RSW had 9,994 aircraft operations, a decrease of 5.8% compared to April 2021. Page Field in Fort Myers saw 15,665 operations, a 31% increase compared to April 2021, the best month recorded in nearly 40 years. 

Gulfshore Business, May 23, 2022

Fort Myers is the country’s fifth hottest commercial real estate metro market, according to the National Association of Realtor’s Commercial Real Estate Metro Market Conditions Index for the first quarter of 2022. It ranked only behind four other Florida markets – Orlando, Miami, Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. The Fort Myers metro area's economic and commercial market posted an index of 72, with wages growing faster at 12% compared to 4.7% nationally, and multifamily asking rents are up 29.6% compared to 11.4% nationally, the report states. The area’s office vacancy rate is a low 4.7% compared to 12.2% nationally. The industrial vacancy rate is at 2.4% compared to 4.1% nationally, with industrial rents up 11.5%, and the retail vacancy rate is at 3.7% compared to 4.5% nationally.

Gulfshore Business, May 17, 2022

Florida welcomed 36 million total visitors between January and March 2022, according to VISIT FLORIDA estimates. It represented a 14% increase from the fourth quarter of 2021, and the third consecutive quarter overall visitation has surpassed pre-pandemic levels. Approximately 34.1 million domestic visitors traveled to the state in the first quarter. Overseas travelers accounted for 1.3 million travelers during the quarter, an increase of 169% from the first quarter of 2021. Quarterly hotel demand exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the first time in the quarter. Compared to the same period in 2021, the number of hotel rooms sold grew by 31.4% during the first three months of the year. Florida’s average daily rate was up over 38%, and its occupancy rate increased by nearly 24%.   

Gulfshore Business, April 28, 2022

Southwest Florida International Airport posted its busiest month in its 39-year history as 1,514,046 passengers traveled through it in March, according to figures from Lee County Port Authority. The Fort Myers airport has served over a million passengers for four consecutive months.

It marked a 30% increase from pandemic-stricken March 2021, a 2.1% increase from March 2019 and a 44% jump year-to-date compared to last year.

The traffic leader in March was Delta with 284,407 total passengers with Southwest (254,061), United (197,294), Spirit (188,373) and American (180,542) rounding out the top five. RSW, which served 10.3 million passengers in 2021, was ranked the 24th busiest U.S. airport for the first quarter of 2022 with more than 2 million travelers.

Gulfshore Business, March 28, 2022

Lee County’s population increased by more than 23,000 people to 787,976 from July 2020 to July 2021, making it the ninth fastest-growing county in the country, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Adding 27,000 people from out of state or other countries during that time period, it ranked first among Florida’s 67 counties in net migration. Collier County, which has a reported population of 385,980, ranked 12th in the state with more than 8,900 new residents. 

Gulfshore Business, January 27, 2022

Fort Myers ranked No. 5 in the nation in HireAHelper.com’s 2021 list of Top 10 Cities people are moving to by ratio, with a net growth of 64.9% over the past year. Cape Coral followed at No. 8, with a net growth of 58.6%. The online moving platform’s researchers tracked a total of 90,000 outbound and inbound moves across the country and surveyed Americans who had moved to get a better understanding of their state-to-state migration patterns. Florida was ranked as the top moved to state by volume and third most moved out of state by volume. The full report is available at HireAHelper.

Gulfshore Business, November 30, 2021

The Fort Myers-Cape Coral metro area ranked No. 9 in HireAHelper’s list of “Where Americans Moved to Retire in 2021.” The national study showed 3.5% of retirees moved to Fort Myers-Cape Coral, with Lakeland-Winter Haven as the only other Florida metro on the top 10 list. Florida ranked No. 2 in states attracting the most Americans moving for retirement out-of-state, accounting for 11.3% of retiree relocations in 2021. The full report is available at HireAHelper.

WINK News, June 23, 2021

Vacation home sales rose 16.4% in 2020, according to the National Association of Realtors. People especially are picking Lee County to call their home away from home, propelling Fort Myers and Cape Coral to the number one spot in the country for vacation home sales. People who want to live in the region are buying homes at a record pace. Homes that used to sell in weeks are gone in days. People are buying permanent homes and vacation homes too. Inventory is moving faster than ever, creating hot competition in the Cape Coral housing market. There are fewer "for sale" signs, and those who want to sell don't wait long, WINK News reports.

Gulfshore Business, May 27, 2021

The pandemic has created many challenges, but it also changed the way we live and work. Some are choosing to make their vacations permanent and move to Southwest Florida full-time to work remotely. CityLab found that most people moving to the state are moving to Southwest Florida. Mapping the percentage of change during the pandemic compared to the year prior, CityLab provided ratios for the number of people moving in divided by the number moving out of areas. The top areas in the region ranked by their percentage of growth include Clewiston (10.8%), Naples/Marco Island (9.7%), Punta Gorda (8.1%), Northport/Sarasota/Bradenton (7.3%) and Cape Coral/Fort Myers (6%). See the report on CityLab.

Gulfshore Business, Dec. 15, 2020

For the fourth straight report card, all four of Lee Health's adult acute care hospitals have earned the highest national marks for safe care. The Leapfrog Group announced its Fall 2020 Hospital Safety Grades, awarding Cape Coral Hospital, Gulf Coast Medical Center, HealthPark Medical Center and Lee Memorial Hospital each "A" grades. The Safety Grade assigns letter grades to all general hospitals across the country. It is based on a hospital's performance in preventing medical errors, injuries, accidents infections and other harms to patients in their care. Since 2000, The Leapfrog Group has promoted improved health care safety, quality and affordability in the U.S. through a commitment to transparency. For more information, visit hospitalsafetygrade.org.

Gulfshore Business, Dec. 10, 2020

HealthPark Medical Center and Lee Memorial Hospital have been named a “Top Teaching Hospital” and Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida a “Top Children’s Hospital” by The Leapfrog Group, a national watchdog organization focused on health care quality and safety. The Leapfrog Top Hospital award is widely acknowledged as one of the most competitive awards American hospitals can receive. More than  2,200 hospitals were considered for a Top Hospital Award, and Lee Health Hospitals are three of just 105 hospitals in the country to earn this recognition. The quality of patient care across many areas of hospital performance is considered in establishing the qualifications for the award, including infection rates, practices for safer surgery, maternity care and the hospital’s capacity to prevent medication errors. The rigorous standards are defined in each year’s Top Hospital Methodology. The Leapfrog Group issues its safety grades twice per year, and all Lee Health adult hospitals earned straight A’s on the 2020 spring report card. The fall 2020 report card will be issued Dec. 14. (Read Report)

Gulfshore Business, Dec. 2, 2020

Cape Coral Hospital, Gulf Coast Medical Center, Lee Memorial Hospital and HealthPark Medical Center are the recipients of several Specialty Excellence Awards and have been named among America's 100 Best Hospitals for Special Care for 2021 by Healthgrades, a leading resource that connects consumers, physicians and health systems. This designation recognizes hospitals that deliver superior quality and patient outcomes within a number of specialty service lines and focus areas. (Read Full Article)

Maria Gatea, StorageCafe, Dec. 19, 2019

Florida ranked as the 1st most popular destination for interstate moving in the country in 2018, with Lee County coming in 7th in the state, according to a survey conducted by STORAGECafe. The findings showed that 26,796 moved to Lee during that period. Hillsborough County finished 1st with 38,040 in migrations. Other results showed that 1,609 people per day settled in Florida in 2018 and that 11% of the total came from NewYork. (Read the Full Report)

Laura Layden, Fort Myers News-Press, Publishes Dec. 16, 2019

Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres and Fort Myers are "boomtowns."

The three areas in Lee County cracked the top 50 list of boomtowns in a new study by SmartAsset, a New York financial technology firm.

Although it's seeing growth too, Naples — in neighboring Collier County — didn't make it on the list. It's not considered in the study, due to its smaller population. 

To determine the rankings, SmartAsset analyzed 500 of the largest cities nationwide. (Click to Read Full Story)

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