TOURISM TALK WITH PETER CRANIS: Tourist Development Tax Collections Up Despite Hurricane Dorian
By Space Coast Daily // November 6, 2019
TOURISM IS A $2.1 BILLION-A-YEAR INDUSTRY IN BREVARD COUNTY, RESPONSIBLE FOR MORE THAN 26,000 JOBS
The total tax collected for the year was $16.024 million which is $1,100 ahead of the budgeted amount
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – September Brevard County Tourist Development Tax collection totals are in, and while Dorian had a negative impact on September (down 7.3 percent from the prior year), the overall news is good.
The total tax collected for the year was $16.024 million which is $1,100 ahead of the budgeted amount.
“We came in almost exactly on budget, which is quite an accomplishment considering Dorian caused us to be over $70,000 short of the prior September,” said Peter Cranis, Executive Director of the Space Coast Office of Tourism.
“To think if we hadn’t had that storm, we would have ended up over $140,000 ahead of our budget. Dorian ate up that overage, but I’m just happy we didn’t have a direct hit. That could have been devastating. And I’m not going to complain about being 2.8 percent ahead of prior year which is good, steady growth.”
The 5 percent Tourism Development Tax is collected on hotels, motels, RV Parks, and short term home and condo rentals.
The Space Coast Office of Tourism is projecting a 3.6 percent increase in the tourism tax for fiscal 2019/2020.
“We factored all the new hotel inventory coming online into that projection so hopefully we will be fortunate with no storm hits next year. We hold back 5 percent of the budget for emergencies though so we are prepared,” said Cranis.
The Brevard County Tourist Development Council was established to promote growth, development and quality of tourism on the Space Coast and consists of nine members appointed by the Brevard County Commission.
The TDC oversees the Tourist Development Tax (Resort Tax), a 5 percent tax on the total rental amount collected from every person or other party who rents, leases, or lets for consideration living quarters or accommodation in any hotel, apartment hotel, motel, resort motel, apartment, apartment motel, rooming house, mobile home park, recreational vehicle park, or condominiums for a period of 6 months or less.
The Space Coast Office of Tourism is the body responsible for the marketing of tourism operations in Brevard County, Florida.
The office is funded through the tourism tax, which is then used to provide advertising and marketing for the region and to develop tourism-related programs.
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