CLEARWATER - More tourists from Europe and Canada helped offset fewer visits from Florida residents to Pinellas County during the first three months of 2008, a consultant's report released Wednesday shows.

But more Florida residents could return to local beaches and attractions this summer because rising gas prices will prompt trips closer to home during the offseason when room rates are cheaper, said Walter Klages, Research Data Services president.

"Summer looks like it's going to be relatively solid," Klages told the Pinellas County Tourist Development Council at its monthly meeting. "It is not going to be a terrible disaster of a season."

That said, Klages warned that the tourism industry needs to invest carefully in marketing to compete with other regions as rising gasoline prices prompt visitors to look for ways to save money. The tourist council approved a $15 million promotional budget request within the Pinellas visitors bureau's $31.3 million budget request for fiscal year 2008-09, which the county commission must approve.

During the first three months of the year, foreign visitors took advantage of the falling dollar, which makes American goods and services cheaper to those with many foreign currencies.

European visitors increased 4.4 percent, to 120,995, and Canadian visitors increased 3.6 percent, to 138,816, during that period. Visitors from Florida declined 18.7 percent, to 44,893, according to Klages' report, largely because they sought to avoid the higher spring season rates.

In other trends:

•A 1.3 percent increase in Pinellas visitors staying with friends and relatives helped balance a 1.1 decline in visitors paying to stay in hotels, motels and condominiums from January through March.

•Also for the first quarter, total overnight visitors to Pinellas remained flat at 1.24 million visitors the first three months of the year, while direct visitors' expenditures rose 3.2 percent, to $976.4 million.

•In March, a greater proportion of overnight Pinellas visitors visited Busch Gardens than a year ago - 18.3 percent to 17.8 percent. A smaller percentage visited Disney World, 7 percent compared with 12.6 percent.

•In March, every major Florida destination, with the exception of Key West, reported a decline in occupancy rates - mostly between 4 and 5 percent compared with March 2007 - while average nightly room rates rose from about 1 percent to 6 percent, according to a report by Tennessee-based Smith Travel Research.

Last week, Hillsborough County's tourism marketing group, Tampa Bay & Co., reported a 6 percent decline in bed-tax revenue in March, illustrating a decline in visitor traffic. The occupancy rate in Hillsborough County in March declined 9.8 percent, to 74.3 percent, compared with March 2007, and the average room rate declined 0.7 percent, to $117.47.

By comparison, Smith Research reported that St, Petersburg-Clearwater occupancy in March declined 4.7 percent, to 81.2 percent, while the average room rate rose 6.6 percent, to $143.60.

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at (813) 259-7817 or tjackovics@tampatrib.com.