florida is benefiting from the brutal weather as tourism heats up-- jackie keenan has the story from the sunshine state... it's spring break in clearwater, florida, where a sun-burned tourist from a northern state is just a seashell's throw away. they've traded snow shovels for sand pails, and big jackets for tiny bikinis. "it's been very long." "we just had to get out of our house" "this is one year we had to be here" the winter that broke records is now breaking tourism records here in clearwater, and throughout the state. 2014 is expected to be a banner year for florida tourism already adding to the boom saw in 2013. last year nearly 95 million sun- starved tourists escaped to florida, an increase of 3 and a half percent. "the polar vortex has been a good friend to us this year worse it gets up there, the better the sunshine looks is st. pete clearwater." the clearwater - st. pete area is especially growing fast. for fiscal year 2014 bed taxes collected are up 13 percent. downing attributes this to the terrible winter, and an aggressive 1.6-million dollar ad push. "we have been mar

tourism officials in st. petersburg and clearwater florida commissioned snow sculptures in chicago. and their timing couldn't have been better. "yea, this was the creme de la creme of snow-sculpting winters. there was a plethora of snow--a lot of material to work with." joseph gagnepain built eight scuptures. dolphins, suns, and palm trees. pinellas county paid him $700 for each one...pay not expected--countless compliments for gagnepain and his crew of helpers. "people, police officers, all came up and thanked us. they were sick of all the snow and we game them something whimsical to see." "part of it is the element of surprise and there's a novel aspect to it, too." "visit st petersburg/clearwater" campaign spent about two million dollars advertising during the winter. much of it wrapped around busses and displayed on elevator screens comparing four degrees in chicago with st. pete/clearwater's 69. then add something a little different, a snow stamp that sent the pasty populous to i- need-sun-dot-com. "the roi is hard to calculate but we know about foot traffic and it's definitely

janet shamlian found out that florida's tourism industry is red hot. >> reporter: it's as if winter has been on steroids. for tens of millions, the bitter cold, snow and ice have been unrelenting. one storm on top of another. >> no snow. no more of that stuff. >> reporter: it's been a mean season, and it's got many in the cold zone dreaming of this, the sand, the surf, and temperatures warmer than they are at home. travel agents have been swamped with calls from winter-weary americans. >> business has been amazing. the more snow, the more people want to go. >> reporter: jim and sue nelson booked a trip to ft. lauderdale. sick of pennsylvania's never-ending winter. >> i feel like i've been living in a cave, and it's time to get out and see the sun again. >> reporter: the nelsons are here for a welcome week away from shoveling snow. >> morning temperatures have been zero, minus 2, minus 5, i think as far down as minus 10. >> having mother nature as a marketing partner is about as good as it gets. >> reporter: cities catering to beach-lovers have increased their advertising budget, hoping

officers back efforts to make florida competitive, and it hurts our travel and tourism, two vital engines to our nation's economy. the entire miami-dade congressional delegation, including our senators, is united on this bipartisan, bicameral effort. with the strategic location to handle connections between the americas and europe, a. m a. serves as the doorstep to the -- m.i.a. serves as the doorstep to the united states. 30 million passengers passed through m.i.a.'s doors as they made their way to their final destinations. these people come to our port of entry either to visit south florida or make connections to other national or international destinations. we need to welcome them with the world class airport that m.i.a. can be and not with long lines, hassles, and congesttons. under the leadership of dr. gonzalez, the director of the miami-dade aviation department, m.i.a. has taken a number of steps to ease the lack of c.b.p. officers. how have they done this? installing automated passport controls, self-service kiosks, also increasing miami-dade aviation department staffing. particip

, because of that, in a warmer time we have a great tourism industry, a tourism industry that attracts 37,000 companies in florida business related to the coast from boating to fishing to lodging to leisure recreation, all told, a quarter of a million people that are employed. and this 1,350 miles of coastline, a magnet for visitors. they come, they enjoy the beaches, they fish for red snapper in destin up here. they look for red snapper off of panama city. maybe they go for scallops off of cedar key. maybe they go and see the spring training games in tampa. and maybe they watch the sunsets from the florida keys. well, you see what's happening. and the most recent data from the state indicates that in 2011, tourists spent $67 billion in florida and contributed $4 billion to our state treasury. so a lot of people have their heads in the sand. but happily, some local leaders, some local elected leaders are starting to have to do something about it. the city of miami beach, it already experiences flooding and drainage problems due to the high tides. they're planning to spend $200 million to purchase more pump statio

florida theme parks. they took over universal you orlando resorts as part of the nbc acquisition in 1212 a challenge to walt disney tourismou are following the backup? >> the backup is into tracy. the fire is out. it was a big dump truck, more like a big rig and off to the shower, slow traffic remains and the damage is done. it is about 20 miles, now, between pleasanton and tracy. i checked the drive times and an hour and 35 minutes. take bart. bart is running 57 trains on time. a horrendous backup because of the early big-rig fire in the pleasanton area. use bart if you can. we will hook at san rafael richmond, i believe -- no that is walnut creek tail lates are starting to jam and bricks are on and the 24 junction shows slow traffic on monday morning give yourself plenty of time. mike? >> a few sprinkles out here in san francisco and we will go to the rain totals and show how anemic at .02" in san francisco, and concord .301" and on 24, the caldecott tunnel hat the highest amount at $1" so -- at .1" so watch out to the tunnels. live doppler 7 hd shows moving out of peed important to the higher elevation along skyline bo

tourism. >> king's bay is one of the only places in the world where you can swim with and even touch groups of endangered florida manatees. hot springs beneath the by provide bathroom water all year round. manatees need that warmth to survive winter codes. it's critical machine tee habitat. >> we have fat, healthy happy manatees here. >> mike is a skilled diver, tour boat drive and manatee guide. >> we have 400 coming here. >> that's a lot. >> that is a lot. >> krystal river is named one of the thousand places to see before you die in that in the new york times best seller of the same name, manatee eco tourism is the life blood of that small town on the shore, population 3,000. eco tourism and the hundreds of thousands of tourists it brings has set off a debate. >> what do tourists get with swimming with the manatees. >> you only touch what you love and only love what you know. we are fostering a steward ship. once we come face-to-face and such something, it's real to us. >> the swimming with manatees attraction is his livelihood. >> manatees will behave much more like cats and not so much like dogs. >> we call