Arkansas Tourism Revenues Rise 7.6% In First Half Of 2014

BusinessCentral ArkansasNortheast ArkansasNorthwest Arkansas

by Michael Tilley ([email protected]) September 23, 2014 8:11 pm 88 views 

Collections of Arkansas’ 2% tourism tax during the first six months of 2014 totaled $6.769 million, up 7.6% compared to the $6.287 million during the same period of 2013.

The 2% tourism tax set a record in 2013 by reaching $12.716 million. Richard Davies, the state’s tourism chief, predicted 2014 would be even better for Arkansas’ tourism and travel sector.

March, April, May and June set records for collections of the state’s tourism tax for the months.

The 2013 collections were up 2.5% compared to the $12.405 million in 2012, and well ahead of the $11.378 million slump in 2009 when national economic conditions proved tough on Arkansas’ tourism industry.

NATIONAL TOURISM TRENDS
Spending on travel and tourism in the U.S. and sector employment grew during the second quarter of 2014, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Real spending in the quarter grew at an annual rate of 2.1% following a revised first quarter dip of 1.1%.

The leading contributors to the upturn in the second quarter were “recreation, entertainment, and shopping,” and “food services and drinking places.”

The recreation sector was up 4.5% in the quarter after falling 2.7% during the first quarter. Food services was up 6.5% in the second quarter after being down 1.8% in the first quarter. The string of bad winter storms across the U.S. in January and February has been cited for downturns in many economic sectors.

Employment in the travel and tourism industries was up 2.3% in the second quarter of 2014 after a revised first quarter gain of 2.1%. The employment gain marked the 17th consecutive quarter of employment growth. By comparison, overall U.S. employment increased 2.2% in the second quarter after increasing 1.5% in the first quarter.

“Total Tourism-Related Output” was $1.5 trillion in the second quarter of 2014. It consisted of $892.4 billion (58%) of direct tourism spending and $639.7 billion (42%) of indirect tourism-related spending.

“Total Tourism-Related Employment” was 7.7 million jobs in the second quarter of 2014 and consisted of 5.5 million (71%) direct tourism jobs and 2.3 million (29%) indirect tourism-related jobs.

To read more localized analysis of western Arkansas tourism, click here.

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