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Tampa Bay posts tourist tax revenue record
Tampa Bay set a new record tourism record for the fiscal year.
It topped 2019 for hotel tax collections from October 2020 through September 2021.
Visit Tampa Bay reports $38.4 million in year-end collections beating out 2019 over the same period by 7.04%.
Six of Visit Tampa Bay’s 12 fiscal months reached record highs, including its latest September collections which saw its first $3 million month totaling $3,241,979, a 17.44% increase over the previous best in October 2019.
Even with expanded hotel inventory of more than 2,500 additional rooms and missing factors such as no international guests, fiscal-year-end hotel revenues soared at $642,882,023, an 8.39% decrease from the same period in a record-breaking 2019.
Hotel occupancy for the year closed out at 61.8%, a 13.15% increase versus 2020 and 16.25% decrease versus 2019.
"Tampa Bay’s tourism bounce-back is one for the books," says Santiago C. Corrada, president and CEO of Visit Tampa Bay.
"Collectively with our community stakeholders and partners, we have set a nationwide precedent for not letting a pandemic define us, but instead fuel us to push our community forward. I am looking forward to an exciting year ahead with new hotels, attractions, restaurants and developments."
Visit Tampa Bay says signs are pointed toward continued growth for the new fiscal year with steady hotel occupancy at 67% for the first month, compared to 64% in 2019.
It welcomed new offerings, including the destination’s first five-star hotel property, the Tampa EDITION, and continued development in Water Street and Midtown, as well as new attractions like Busch Gardens’ Iron Gwazi.
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