Lee County is ready to welcome more Canadians

Eight months after Hurricane Ian made landfall, Fort Myers has made a strong comeback.

“We’re in what we like to say is phase three of our recovery plan. We’re on the recovery portion of it, we have about 70%-80% of our hotel rooms open now, and that’s right under 10,000 hotel rooms,” Charm Evans, Global Sales Manager from the Lee County Visitor and Convention Bureau told Travel Courier during a Toronto visit earlier this month. “That’s 10,000 out of a little over 13,000 rooms so we’re doing really well.”

And if clients wonder what the scenery and beaches look like these days, the Visit Fort Myers website features live webcams across spots like the Manatee Park and the Boca Grande shore to showcase what an actual visit will be like.

“We’ve added webcams so there’s a bunch of different things that you can see now with the live webcams right on the website just because a lot of people still have this perception of what they maybe saw eight months ago and we want them to see that the destination doesn’t look like that anymore,” explains Jeanette Faria, Account Manager at Vox International, which reps the destination in Canada. “The destination is thriving and we have our beach conditions always updated on the website because a lot of people right now have been concerned with the beach conditions in Florida and Mexico with sargassum. That’s very much on the Atlantic side and the east side, not the west coast, so they can take a look at our beach conditions… they are always posted and up-to-date.”

Although the Fort Myers Beach area “is still recovering,” Evans pointed out that beaches like Lynn Hall Beach Park, Lighthouse Beach Park on Sanibel, Blind Pass Beach Captiva, as well as the beaches in the Bonita Springs area are open and ready to welcome Canadians. Hotels like Pink Shell Beach Resort & Marina are already open and the new Margaritaville Resort Fort Myers Beach is slated to officially open in January, 2024.

“Cape Coral, they have never really closed, so that’s one of our neighbourhoods that is popular among our Canadian residents and they’re open and ready and waiting for all of our visitors to come back in addition to downtown Fort Myers, Sanibel and Captiva,” she added. “The majority of our beaches are open.”

As for the significance of the Canadian market, Canada remains the No. 1 international market for the Florida destination.

“We love our Canadians. With them being able to drive down and stay longer, be it in the hotels or in their own vacation homes, they always provide us with that much needed revenue and they generate the industry,” she said.

Meanwhile, Faria noted that airlift is readily available with both Air Canada and WestJet, and will ramp up even more for the winter season.

“Canadians are very important and we want everyone back down,” she said. “I think the biggest news this fall will be the new Margaritaville hotel because it’s the first large hotel property being built on Fort Myers Beach in over 20 years.”

In early 2022, the destination rebranded as Fort Myers – Islands, Beaches and Neighbourhoods, replacing The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel, which Evans said has been a success.

“We did it for the beyond the beach concept, because we want people to know that we’re not just Fort Myers and the beaches or islands so we have that to show and highlight some of the uniqueness that we are as a destination, which includes Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, Sanibel, Captiva and all of the neighbourhoods have their own unique experiences and draw,” she noted. 

Fort Myers — Islands, Beaches, and Neighbourhoods include Sanibel Island, Captiva Island, Fort Myers Beach, Fort Myers, Bonita Springs, Estero, Cape Coral, Pine Island, Matlacha, Boca Grande & Outer Islands, North Fort Myers, Alva, Buckingham, and Lehigh Acres.

“It’s such a large area and it compasses so much more,” added Faria. “It’s not just Fort Myers so that’s why adding the neighbourhoods to our logo, encompassing more and we do focus a lot more on that in regards to the activities and attractions and different things that you can see and do. It’s not just about the beach.”

Notably, all photos in this story are post hurricane.