The Key West Chamber of Commerce is a real resource for businesses

Kerry Baker, executive director with the Key West Chamber of Commerce joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about the organization.

The Chamber of Commerce works hard for the business community and is happy to have a good relationship with the city.

Baker said, “I think it’s really important. Obviously, we know the business community is a huge part of the kind of the day to day operations of Key West. I think anyone that’s a business owner knows it is extremely difficult to have a business in Key West. The cost of doing business here is extremely high, not only their rent, the insurances, maintaining employees, being able to pay them a salary that they can afford to live here, and just even the cost of goods for them to keep the doors open. Businesses face a tough challenge. So when we can certainly work well with the decision makers in the city and the county and even on a state level, that is a win/win all the way around. When our businesses are thriving, the community thrives. Most businesses here put an incredible amount of money back into the community, whether that’s through charitable contributions, supporting nonprofits, our youth league, so all the way around, it really is important for our business community here to be able to do well.”

The Key West Chamber of Commerce looks to help businesses survive and thrive.

Baker said, “Advocacy is a big part of it. One of the things that we try to do is stay on top of what’s going on in the local community, but also being able to educate our members on topics and not only just locally, but on a city level, a county level, and again, on a state level. There are decisions that are made on a state level that affect us here on the Florida Keys. Sometimes those state level decisions affect us in a completely different way than they would other areas of the state. So that’s obviously extremely important. Training is a big part of it. I mean, our small Mom and Pops are a big part of our community. They may not necessarily have the same resources that larger businesses have. So we bring in training facilitators, try to offer seminars. I’m really looking to try to do something on AI this year, which I think will be very informative for our members. We have relationships on the state level with our State Chamber of Commerce and State Tourism Bureau. So I think it really is important for us to be able to provide resources to the smaller business community here. It also is a phenomenal networking opportunity. I’ve really seen a big increase in newer businesses that have joined the chamber over the last couple of years. They’re forming relationships with one another. I’ve seen several of our members kind of link up and are starting to collaborate and do business together. That’s really what it’s all about, is the Chamber opens up an opportunity for business professionals to network, mix and mingle with others, and to collaborate and come together. I think really we all want all businesses here to be successful and the Chamber, wants to be a part of that and providing resources for the business community.”

Tourism trends are something that the Chamber is constantly on top of.

Baker said, “Some of the reports that we’re getting is, and it really depends on who you talk to for 2024, there definitely were some low times with occupancy, where it was down there. If you talk to your water based businesses, they had a really rough year last year with the weather, but that also pushed people to go into more of your land based activities. So some of the museums did better certain months. So I did just get yesterday our final numbers for 2024. I’m going to be doing a proof on that with one of my employees this morning, and we will get that data out to our members. But it is kind of interesting. I think definitely, people can certainly see that the highs that we had during COVID are gone, and we are back to normal trends where we have highs and lows, and businesses are trying to navigate that. So far this year, I mean, it’s always horrible to say this, but when there’s snow and bad weather up north, that is good for business for us. That means that people want to travel, and they want to get away from that cold winter, and they come down here. Certainly with the airport having a lot of non-stop direct flights, and that increase, it’s made it easier for people to get here. So I think there’s definitely people here right now, the streets are busy, which is always nice to see. As most people know, we have a pretty good location, so I usually get a day to day view of the traffic that’s out there on Duvall Street. I can tell you that New Year’s and Christmas, the way they fell on the calendar, were very strong, and people were definitely here and that has continued over into January, and we’re hoping and looking forward to with things settling down, people are starting to open up their pocketbooks a little bit, feeling a little bit more comfortable traveling, and that hopefully will continue into the remainder of season and far into the summer as well. But our members can certainly look, in the next couple of days, they will get their latest statistics on tourism, which will go through the end of 2024 and they definitely be able to see month to month and year to year comparisons on not only what has been coming through air traffic, land traffic, the ferry, we track all kinds of things from unemployment rates, and I think the number one issue employees is still hard. Employees are struggling to find affordable places to live. That’s not only even on a renter standpoint, but we talk about this even on a home ownership standpoint, the cost of insurances and just being able to own here is extremely high, and those are challenges that are affecting entry level workers, mid management and even upper management, when you’re trying to balance that quality of life and still being able to afford to live here and be able to provide for your family, I think, is something that a lot of people are still struggling with. So as employers, it’s trying to find that balance where you can assist your employees. We definitely are advocating for insurance and other things, because we need to make sure that quality of life is there for not only the people renting and working here, but people purchasing and wanting to make Key West their long time home.”

The upgrades at the airport have really helped with travel.  

Baker said, “A lot of those non-stop flights that are coming in, it’s not just visitors coming in and out of that airport. You have a lot of people with direct flights that has made it so much easier to fly. You have people that live here that do business in other places. I have some Chamber members that I know fly in and out of Key West, although they live here, but they have businesses elsewhere. They’re flying in and out weekly. So that’s one thing to also take into consideration, that with more service coming in, and it’s easier for us to fly in and out of Key West, a lot of people are utilizing that a lot. People that live here are going to other areas more easily, and they’re not driving, which is taking some of the traffic off the road, which anyone that has been on US 1, that’s a plus as well. So I’m excited for all the expansion and the improvements at the airport. I think it’ll be a win/win for anyone that is traveling in and out of the airport, for us to have a little bit more of a state of the art, more modernized airport, I think, is something that Key West definitely needed.”

For more information, click here:  https://www.keywestchamber.org/