VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – Tourism in Volusia County bounced back in a big way this last year.

According to Mid-Florida Marketing and Research, 9.9 million visitors traveled to the county in 2021.

A significant increase compared to 7.2 million visitors in 2020, the lowest the county has seen in a decade.

“It demonstrates the resilience of the Daytona Beach and Volusia County tourism industry and the smart decisions made by each of the bureaus," said Evelyn Fine, the president of Mid-Florida Marketing and Research.

The recent increase in visitors encouraged local business owners.

Shelly Rossmeyer-Pepe is the owner of Saints and Sinners Pub. Her family-run business has been in Destination Daytona since 2005 and is a popular spot amongst local bikers.

“We were very fortunate to see a lot more people at Bike Week this year,” she explained.

Rossmeyer-Pepe says the last two years have been filled with support from the local community.

Something she doesn’t take for granted, but recently, it’s been nice to see new faces rolling into the pub.

“I can feel it as a business owner and being present on a daily basis. We are definitely starting to see more people come back to our business, and I couldn’t be happier about that,” she said.

In terms of an economic impact, these visitors brought in $5.5 billion in spending – 85% of that was spent at local businesses.

Officials say they’re able to gather these numbers, like the amount of visitors, by taking a look at occupancy, party size, and length of stay per month.

As for Rossmeyer-Pepe - she’s hopeful this trend will in visitors will continue throughout the rest of this year.

“The cities of Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, and our surrounding counties have just done everything to try and bring tourism into our area,” she said.

The record for Volusia County is 10.2 million visitors that was set back in 2018.