Tourist Tax Revenues
Last Updated: November 9th, 2023
Summary
- Seasonally-adjusted real tourist tax revenues for the coastal counties rose to $7.8 million in September 2023, a 1 percent improvement from the prior month but 3 percent beneath the September 2022 figure.
- Lee County’s seasonally-adjusted real tourist tax revenues improved to $3.2 million in September 2023, a 1 percent increase from the August 2023 measure but 16 percent below the September 2022 figure.
- Collier County’s seasonally-adjusted real tourist tax revenues remained at $4.0 million in September 2023, a less than 1 percent decline from August 2023 but 8 percent over the September 2022 figure.
- Seasonally-adjusted real tourist tax revenues in Charlotte County rose to $684.3 thousand in September 2023, up 2 percent from the August 2023 measure and 15 percent over September 2022.
About the Data
Tourist tax revenues represent total revenues generated by the tourist development tax (sometimes referred to as the "bed tax") levied on accommodations rented for less than six months. Charlotte, Collier and Lee County currently have a tourist development tax rate of 5% on such accommodations, while Sarasota County has a tax rate of 6%. Keep in mind that the tourist tax rate for each county has been adjusted over time when interpreting results. See the Florida Department of Revenue website for more information on how these rates have changed within each county.
Lee County tourist tax revenue is provided by the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau, while Collier County tourist tax revenue information is collected from Collier County Tax Collector's Office. Tourist tax revenue data for Charlotte County is gathered from the Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach Visitor & Convention Bureau. Sarasota County bed tax data was provided by Sarasota Tax Collector. Monthly data for Hendry and Glades County is not available at this time.
Sales data were adjusted from nominal to real values using the U.S. Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers (CPI-U), with all dollar values reported in January 2022 dollars. Lastly, all data is seasonally-adjusted by the Regional Economic Research Institute using the X13-ARIMA-SEATS seasonal adjustment program, software that is produced, distributed and maintained by the U.S. Census Bureau.
