Tourist Development Tax Collection For May 2023

[Jen]

Tourist Development Tax collection showed a 3.23 percent decrease in South Walton for May 2023 compared with the previous year. Total collections for May 2023 in South Walton were $5,831,072.77.

The Tourist Development Tax, or bed tax, is a 5 percent tax collected on hotels, condos, and other short-term rentals south of Choctawhatchee Bay. It is the best way to gauge visitation and demand trends in South Walton. The revenue supports tourism marketing and beach operations efforts, including cleaning and maintaining beaches, lifeguards, destination improvements, and preservation initiatives.

Tourist Development Tax collection on short-term rental accommodations north of the Choctawhatchee Bay totaled $25,822.64 for May 2023. Collections for May represent an 8.62 percent increase, or $2,050.19, compared with the previous year.

The Tourist Development Tax, or bed tax, for the reporting period is a 2 percent tax collected on hotels, condos, and other short-term rentals north of the Choctawhatchee Bay. It is the best way to gauge visitation and demand trends. Effective with July 2023 collections the bed tax will increase to 3 percent for all short-term rentals north of the Choctawhatchee Bay.

 

[Beacher]

Bed tax collections south of the bay at five percent were reported as down by $940,000 for the 2023 fiscal year, year to date, as compared with the previous year.

Account Suspended

After a report later during the course of the meeting by Brian Kellenberger, county beach operations director, of beach garbage collection being in excess of the previous year for May 2023 and June 2023, Danny Glidewell, TDC member and District 3 commissioner, asked if that would not mean that “people and users are up.”

Kellenberger discussed the fact that average daily rate for short-term rentals is a factor with bed tax collections, so there can be an increase in visitors but a decrease in bed tax collections if rates go down. However, he said neither the increase in people nor garbage collection had been huge.

Kellenberger described the past three years as an anomaly for the TDC and maintained that we are now seeing indications of tourism numbers returning to “what we consider normal.”

TDC Member Tim Taylor pointed out that the local population “has grown tremendously,” which is a factor in the number of people on the beach and also in the amount of garbage collection.

Another possibility that could help explain a decline in bed tax collections yet more people on the beach came up later in a discussion with consultant Erin Dinkel of Downs & St. Germain, after Dinkel’s presentation of a 2023 Spring Visitor Tracking Study.

Dinkel said one of the biggest trends statewide is that there are more day trippers this season than have been seen historically, compared to visitors who stay in accommodations at the location.

“So I think that economic impact metric is where we really start to see some of these trends come to life,” she told the council members.