Resort tax collections for June 2011 climbed by nearly 10 percent from the collections recorded in June 2010, according to the latest figures from the Manatee County Tax Collector’s Office.
That’s generally good news for local tourism, said Mary Ann Brockman, Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce president.
While not an official measure of tourism to Manatee County, Brockman said bed tax collections for one month are a good indicator of the occupancy level of tourist accommodations.
If the bed tax collections are up from last year, then it’s likely a good month for tourism, Brockman said. If collections drop in a month, one can usually figure that visitor arrivals also fell, she observed.
The bed tax, also known as the resort tax, is the 5 percent tax added to the cost of each accommodation unit rented in Manatee County for less than six months. From the resort tax collected, 1 cent of every 5 cents is set aside for beach renourishment projects.
While Brockman wasn’t predicting a 10 percent climb in accommodation occupancy for June 2011, many members reported good occupancy levels for the month.
Total collections for June 2011 were $487,927, a $43,297 increase — 9.76 percent — compared with the $443,630 collected in June 2010.
Collectively, Anna Maria Island’s municipalities and Longboat Key — the core of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau’s marketing strategy — delivered $302,610 or 62.1 percent of the bed tax collected in Manatee County for the month.
The June bed tax collection report was “good news,” to Brockman, because May tourism on the Island “was excellent and some thought we might get a decline in June. I don’t think we’ll have one when the figures are released,” Brockman predicted.
And the May tourism report from the BACVB should be impressive if bed tax collections that month are a guideline.
Resort tax collections in Manatee County for May 2011 were up $443,406, a 74.6 percent increase from the $330,910 collected in May 2010. The $774,316 total in bed tax collections recorded in May 2011 was so big an increase that tax office officials double-checked the amounts to ensure accuracy.
Research Data Services Inc. of Tampa prepares the monthly and quarterly tourism reports for the BACVB. The monthly research data and tourist arrival figures are delayed 4-6 weeks after the end of a month.
Brockman predicted that when May tourism figures are announced by the BACVB, they should show Island tourism up significantly when compared to May 2010.