ORLANDO-Next to the federal interest rate, the most watched numbers in this area’s billion-dollar tourist industry are the monthly hotel taxes generated by tourists and business travelers. They’re down three months in a row now for the first time in 10 years. But the numbers are still up 1.1% year-to-date over last year’s comparable period, according to the Central Florida Hotel-Motel Association.

The numbers are watched closely because the annual average $110 million in tax money collected from metro Orlando’s 115,000 hotel rooms pays for the $750 million, fourth phase Orange County Convention Center due to be completed in May 2003.

The tax funds also pay for ongoing tourist promotions and could, pro-arena supporters argue, pay down a portion of a proposed new 18,500-sf basketball arena or the retrofitting of the existing 11-year-old, 17,300-seat, 350,000-sf T.D. Waterhouse Center.

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