Miami says merci for Euro tourists

South Florida remains an especially popular destination for European tourists, who are boosting summer hotel business and providing a bright spot in a torpid economy. Miami-Dade, the region’s largest hotel market, saw overnight visitors increase 3 percent in the first six months of this year, according to the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. However, total domestic visitors dropped 1.2 percent, the first such loss since the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks. Only an 8.2 percent surge in foreign visitors — the biggest this decade — kept Miami-Dade’s vacation industry growing this year, the bureau said.