GlobeSt.com UPDATE: September Hotel Room Tax Collections Dip 32% in Orange; 22% in Osceola

ORLANDO-The headlines get your attention but the numbers tell the real story in metro Orlando’s 110,000-room hotel industry at least. Tax collections revenue is down but it isn’t a catastrophe, industry analysts and local government officials say.

“The market is holding up generally well in spite of negative domestic and international economic news,” Robin L. Webb, a hospitality industry consultant for 30 years and vice president/managing broker, Arvida Realty Services Commercial Division, Winter Park, FL, tells GlobeSt.com.

While September collections of the 5% tax on rooms fell 32% for September in Orange County and 22% in neighboring Osceola County, the total collections for fiscal 2001 ended Sept. 30 was $104.8 million.