Hoteliers look for a strong summer tourist season as the projected visitor count of 46.9 million could top the estimated 43.1 million in 2003, area hospitality industry consultants tell GlobeSt.com.
Haynie says March collections were 23% above the March 2003 volume. "Collections for this March represent the highest monthly collection amount of record, surpassing the previous high set in March 2000," the comptroller says. "This is also the eighth consecutive month where collections have exceeded collections of the same month the previous year."
The county has taken in a total $55.2 million or an average $9.2 million since its fiscal year began Oct. 1, 2003. If that collections pace continues, the year-end total could hit $110 million, the highest in 25 years, consultants tell GlobeSt.com. The best collection year to date was 2000 with $108.2 million on the books.
The monthly resorts tax collection numbers in Orange County, Central Florida's largest county with 115,000 hotel and motel rooms, and short-term rentals, are watched closely by real estate developers, lenders and appraisers as a key barometer of the local hospitality industry's health.
Haynie and her staff watch the collection numbers even more closely to make sure the county's annual bond payments of $78 million are met. The bonds were issued to pay for the $750-million expansion last year of the two million sf of exhibition space at the 35-year-old Orange County Convention Center.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Osceola County where Walt Disney World splits its 30,000-acre enclave between Orange and Osceola, hotel room tax collections are also increasing. Osceola took in $2.2 million in February, the highest amount since February 2000, the county's last strong tourism year, according to Osceola county auditor Kathy Wall.
To promote the Kissimmee and St. Cloud areas, Osceola County has started a $2.1-million all-media advertising campaign. That promotion may eventually bring in more visitors but smaller independent hotel and motel operators tell GlobeSt.com they are more concerned with the effects on their businesses by a $30-million road-widening project that has just begun on US 192, one the main corridors leading to Walt Disney World and nearby attractions.
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