ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Hurricane Irma is now long gone but her impact is still being felt in the St. Augustine tourism industry as many locals and out-of-town tourists are still recovering from the storm.
September is already considered a slow month and now, after Hurricane Irma, St. Augustine has definitely seen a decline in visitors.
It’s especially evident by just looking at the famous trolleys that are almost always packed with riders. On Monday, many trolleys were about half full or less.
“We're probably carrying maybe half of what we probably expect,” said Dave Chatterton, General Manager of Old Town Trolleys.
Chatterton said the problem is Hurricane Irma’s widespread impact in Florida.
“You know a good number of our visitation to St. Augustine are Floridians, in-state tourism,” Chatterton said.
Richard Goldman of the St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra, & The Beaches Visitors and Convention Bureau is making sure people know what’s open by doing a big push on social media.
“We have over a hundred restaurants up, 75 hotels are up and running, 63 attractions and retail operations and those are just the ones that have reported to us,” Goldman said.
Goldman said, adding that since Irma, hourly employees have also been impacted.
“Our hourly staff are the ones that don't get the hours they ordinarily would when things are not as busy,” said Goldman.
But there’s a silver lining.
“We're much better than [Hurricane] Matthew,” Goldman said.
Chatterton said the trolleys have been open since Friday and he’s hoping business will pick back up soon.
For the entire month of September, Old Town Trolleys is inviting people who live in St. Johns County to ride the trolley and visit its museums for free.