PUNTA GORDA — This city’s Yellow Bike program that loans bicycles to visitors for free saw usage triple in February compared with the same month in 2012, and the vast majority of riders were from out of state.

That indicates that tourism is booming this winter, and that the Yellow Bike program, which offers visitors a down-to-earth way to tour Punta Gorda’s waterfront, is a vital part of the attraction, according to Gene Pawlowski, a Team Punta Gorda volunteer who manages the bike program.