TOURISM REVENUE TO GREATER MIAMI GENERATED BY NATURIST VISITORS

July 29, 2009 - Miami-Dade County operates two large oceanfront parks, Crandon and Haulover. Naturist (clothing-optional) use of an area of Haulover Park began July, 1991. Within 3 years, from 1991 to 1994, parking revenue from Haulover increased 120% ($258K to $587K), while parking revenue from Crandon increased only 6% ($343K to $363K). The parking fees are identical at both parks, and the only reason to which this startling difference can be attributed is the establishment and quickly increasing popularity of the clothing-optional area at Haulover Beach Park. By 2004, Haulover parking revenue had increased to $1,148,073.

In 2004, the Miami-Dade Park & Recreation Department estimated Haulover Park had 1.3 million annual visitors, and that 85% of beach use was at the clothing-optional beach area. A modest 3% assumed annual increase each year from 2004 to 2009, consistent with trends from 1995 to 2004, gives an estimate of 1.5 million visits for 2009.

In 2004, a survey by B.E.A.C.H.E.S. Foundation revealed that of the visitors to the clothingoptional beach, 6% were visitors from Florida (outside Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties), 27.3% were visitors from the USA outside Florida, and 17.9% were visitors from outside the USA, or a total of 51.2% tourist visitors. From the above we derive a projection of 652,800 naturist (clothing-optional) tourist visits to Haulover Beach Park in 2009. (1,500,000 x 0.85 x 0.512) The Greater Miami Convention and Visitor Bureau has calculated that on average a tourist to Miami spends $244.54 per day. (2007)

Therefore, we can project a 2009 minimum tourism benefit from naturist (clothing-optional) tourists visiting Haulover Beach Park at $159,636,000. The Greater Miami Convention and Visitor Bureau has determined that, on average, a tourist to Miami visits for 5.85 days, and the above minimum tourist benefit assumes each naturist tourist spends 5.85 days at Haulover Beach.

If we assume that each naturist tourist spends only one day at Haulover Beach during his/her stay,the naturist tourists may represent a maximum 2009 tourism benefit of $933,869,000.

HAULOVER PARKING REVENUE SURPASSES NEARBY CLOTHED BEACHES

Miami-Dade County operates two large oceanfront parks, Crandon and Haulover. Naturist (clothing-optional) use of an area of Haulover Park began July, 1991. Within 3 years, from 1991 to 1994, parking revenue from Haulover increased 120% ($258K to $587K), and surpassed adjacent Crandon Beach, which increased only 6% ($343K to $363K).

Notes about the chart’s timeline above:

• July 14, 1991: Initial naturist beach use at Haulover Park.
• April 15, 1992: Miami-Dade Police Department legal note #92-4 clarifies inapplicability of Florida Statute 800.03 to mere nudity absent lewd or lascivious behavior
• December, 1993: Installation of first permanent naturist beach signs by Park Department
• The larger parallel increases in both Haulover & Crandon parking revenue represents parking fee increases over this period: $2 per car in 1992, $4 per car in 2000, $5 per car in 2004.

Parks has not provided information about parking revenue after 2004. That last year parking revenue at Haulover was $1,148,073 compared to Crandon’s $696,297. A modest 3% annual increase each year means Haulover’s parking revenue for 2008 is projected to be $ $1,292,166.