PETER CRANIS: May Tourist Development Tax Comes in at Record-Breaking $1.979 Million

14th consecutive month for record TDT revenue

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – May Tourist Development Tax (TDT) has come in and the numbers came in at $1.979 million – a record for the month of May. This is 41% ahead of the previous high May which was $1.652 million.

As we have talked about, we have been breaking records for every month and May was no exception, making it the 14th consecutive month for record TDT for that given month.

This past March/April combined to make it the strongest Spring Break ever with over $5 million in revenue, nearly 40% higher than the next best Spring Break season.

May was assisted by a very strong weekend of May 20-22 which included both the Thunder on Cocoa Beach Boat Races and the Space Coast Air Show. Then that was followed by Memorial Day weekend which kicked off our summer season.

Year to date, we are at $15.6 million, compared to $10.18 million the prior year (up 53%) and $10.8 million in 2018/19. This makes it the strongest nine months in any year by over $4.8 million.

Looking at TDT by type, hotels represented 70% of the total for the month and vacation rentals were 28.4% of TDT which typically has been around the 33% range.

This is an interesting trend if it holds, showing some softness in the vacation rental market compared to hotels. In terms of hotel/motel revenue by city, Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral (36%) were, as usual, ahead of Melbourne and the Beaches (30%) as a percentage of the total.

This shows a slight upward trend for CB/CC which could be due to the stronger numbers of cruise passengers going out of Port Canaveral. Looking ahead to June, we believe that will also be a record for that month and traditionally has exceeded May numbers.

The looming question continues to be how summer will fare compared to the great summer we had last year.

June, July and August combined last year for a $5.38 million TDT. It will take a lot to get us there again this year, but it still looks very possible.

In case you were wondering, below are the top 5 months for Tourist Development Tax Collection:

■ March, 2022: $2,797,100
■ February, 2022: $2,297,667
■ April, 2022: $2,273,631
■ July, 2021: $2,117,707
■ March, 2019: $2,095,343

– Peter Cranis, Space Coast Office of Tourism Executive Director

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