242 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY I3TH ANNUAL REPORT 



A "Guide to Florida" by Harrison Rhodes and ]\Iary W. Du- 

 mont, published in 19 12, devotes ly pages to a hotel directory of 

 the State. There is no explanation of how complete it is supposed 

 to be, or whether the rates quoted are American or European plan, 

 and in some cases either the rate or the capacity is left blank. But 

 the towns and hotels omitted are mostly very small ones, and the 

 rates in nearly every case are evidently American plan, and the 

 list is useful for indicating the distribution of the tourist business 

 and calculating the average cost of board in each region, if nothing 

 else. 



According to that there were within the area under consid- 

 eration accommodations for 15,680 visitors, at an average mini- 

 mum rate of $2.47 per day. American plan.* About 11% of the 

 rooms were in the lime-sink region, mostly on the coast thereof 

 in Pinellas County, 23.2% in the lake region, the same in the west- 

 ern division of the flatwoods (mostly at St. Petersburg), 35.6% 

 on the east coast, and the rest scattering. The average rates per 

 day were about $3.00 in the lime-sink region (one hotel on the 

 coast contributing a large part of this), $2.21 in the lake region, 

 $2.00 in the western division of the flatwoods, and $2.88 on the 

 east coast. (Of course to convert these figures to present-day 

 prices they would have to be multiplied by about two, on account 

 of the depreciation of money during the recent war.) 



A winter resort directory of the South issued by the Atlantic 

 Coast Line for the season of 19 14-15 seems to have about the 

 same degree of completeness as that just mentioned, and the num- 

 ber of hotel accommodations in central Florida listed in it is about 

 20,000. A similar publication for 1920-21 increases the number 

 to about 24,000, 9.7% of which are in the lime-sink region, or on 

 the coast thereof, 34.7% in the lake region, 21.4% in the west- 

 ern division of the flatwoods, and 26.5% on the east coast. (In 

 all these calculations Tampa has been divided equally between the 

 lime-sink region and the flatwoods.) Hotels are most numerous 

 in the lake region, but they average smaller there than on the east 

 coast. 



*This average is not simply the sum of the rates divided by the number 

 oi hotels, but a weighted average obtained by multiplying each rate by the 

 number of rooms before adding. Where the rates given are obviously Euro- 

 pean they have been multiplied by three or four. 



