Yesterday’s Beige Book, a report on regional economies from the Federal Reserve, had this view from the Atlanta Fed of one of Florida’s most important industries:

“

Tourism related activity was mixed with reports noting lower hotel occupancy in some parts of the District. Tourism contacts also reported concerns regarding reduced Labor Day weekend travel, and most anticipate some weakening in business travel during the fall.”

Actually, the tourism story may be a good one in 2008.

Here’s why: According to Visit Florida, the state had a 1.2 percent gain in tourists visiting the state in the April-May June quarter compared with the year before. That followed a 4.1 percent gain in tourist visits between January and March compared to 2007.

As the year began, Miami ranked number one in the country for hotel occupancy and it had the second highest average daily room rate, according to The Miami Herald.

But back to the summer that wasn’t so hot. Both summer and the fourth quarter were soft last year, too.

Let’s assume Florida’s tourism industry in the second half of 2008 sees no growth from last year. We’d have the exact same number of visitors in the final six months..

If that happened, Florida would have an annual total of 85.7 million visitors
.
That’s the highest number in a decade,

It’s 46 percent higher than the number of people who visited Florida in 1999.

Why would the number of visitors stay the same as last year? You might assume it would decline, due to the weak economy and high gas prices. But tourism here is not dependent only on our economy.

Foreign visits so far have been on the rise, both from Canada and from other countries. The weak dollar was a boon to Canadians and visitors from the United Kingdom earlier this year. And the bustling Latin American economies, boosted by oil and commodity profits, are enriching those citizens.

The large point is that the economy isn’t a song with only downbeats. Tourism, for much of this year, has played its own tune. And it’s been upbeat.