Regional tourism industry sees gains in 2008

The Fort Smith regional tourism industry had a healthy 2008 judging from collections of the state’s 2% tourism trust fund tax.

Collections of the tax — on hotels, restaurants, tourism attractions, etc. — for Crawford, Franklin, Logan and Sebastian counties in 2008 totaled $627,023, up 12.4% over 2007 collections.

Some of that increase came from work crews in the area helping recover from an April hail storm and a June wind storm that hit the area.

Statewide the tax generated $12.005 million for the tourism trust fund, up 3.8% over 2007 collections.

Of the top five tourism-tax generating counties in the state, three saw declines in 2008.
Pulaski County: $2.798 million, up 1.6% compared to 2007
Benton County: $1.244 million, up 10%
Garland County: $1.086 million, down 0.4%
Washington County: $775,497, down 1.4%
Carroll County: $519,988, down 8.1%

Fort Smith Regional Tourism Trust Fund Collections
Sebastian County
2008: $417,507
2007: $367,986
up 13.5%

Crawford County
2008: $124,112
2007: $117,193
up 5.9%

Logan County
2008: $57,650
2007: $50,286
up 14.6%

Franklin County
2008: $27,754
2007: $22,178
up 25.1%