CRYSTAL RIVER, Fla. — With the holiday in full swing, many will be spending the period by traveling.

Tourism is one of the leading industries for the economy, and holiday travel can be an important time of year for local businesses and their owners.

What You Need To Know

  • As the holiday period takes shape, many families will be traveling to hot tourist attraction areas like Crystal River

  • Tourism is one of the leading industries for the local economy in Citrus County
  • It's an important time of year for local businesses and their owners, especially a year that saw a busy hurricane season
  • Manatee season runs now through the end of March

“This week is one of the busiest weeks of the year,” said Mike Engiles, owner of Crystal River Watersports.

He said he was looking forward to the week ahead.

“It’s people coming and enjoying nature and contributing to the local economy and, hopefully, returning home with some memories and pictures,” he said.

Engiles is referring to the holiday tourism period. It’s an important time of year for the city of Crystal River, as tourists come to visit from all over, eager to get on the water.

“It doesn’t get old,” said Engiles. “Today, we had folks from the U.K., from France, we had folks from Nebraska, Tennessee and Arizona. We get to meet folks from all over the country, all over the world, and they’re here having a good time and they’re taking that message back home to their friends and family as well.”

Engiles says the area has gradually seen a rise in tourist traffic each year since the pandemic.

“We keep hoping for it since COVID,” Engiles said. “We’re hitting the five-year mark and we still haven’t quite gotten there, because every year there seems to be a different curveball, with the latest being the storms.”

The recent hurricane season was a minor setback, he said, for all businesses. Maybe more so for the manatee tours with the weather impacting the animals' habitats.

“There’s an impact to the manatees and their patterns as well," Engiles said. "While the waterways look great. The water clarity is good. We have lots of manatees. They’re having to make a choice each day: Do they stay in the warm water refuge, or do they go out to the gulf where it’s colder water, but there’s a food source?”

Either way, the manatees are helping bring business to the area, and Engiles, along with others, is reminding the public they’re open for business.

“Things are looking up and hopefully that continues on into 2025, as well,” he said.

The Crystal River manatee season is currently in full-swing and runs through the end of March.