Lee County Convention and Visitors Bureau

While the primary focus for Lee County Vistor and Convention Bureau is to market Southwest Florida, they also run another program called "heads in beds" for first responders to a natural disaster.

In terms of sports, there’s a lot going on in Lee County these days, and it’s more than spring training. Karen Moore, publisher of Southwest Florida Business Today, recently spoke with Jeff Mielke, Lee County Sports Development Executive Director, to hear how that sports is making an impact in our area.

Post-Ian, it's been and will continue to be a challenging time for the hospitality industry and for the Southwest Florida community, particularly the restaurants. Without the hotels that we normally have on the coast full of guests, it's really challenging for the restaurants to function. In, Lee County, tourism employs 1 out of every 5 people. The area typically receives nearly 4.5 million visitors a year spending more than $4 billion. This year the numbers will be very different, according to Lee County Visitors & Convention Bureau Executive Director Tamara Pigott . But it's not all bad news.

All eyes and ears were on the mayors of both Fort Myers Beach, Dan Allers, and Sanibel, Richard Johnson, when they recently shared island updates 7 months post-Hurricane Ian at a local commercial real estate meeting.

The U.S. dollar is strong against the Canadian dollar and the Euro. It's a financial situation that's good for Americans traveling abroad but a worry for…