Area tourism industry benefits from busy Summer travel

A national report suggesting consumers and corporations traveled more than expected during the recent summer may help explain the continued rise in Fort Smith and Van Buren hospitality tax collections.

August collections in Van Buren totaled $33,398, up 2.97% compared to August 2010. For the first eight months of 2011, hospitality tax collections in Van Buren totaled $261,962, up 2.5% compared to the $255,558 in the 2010 period. Van Buren collects a 1% tax on lodging and a 1% tax on restaurants.

“Overall, 2011 has seen a slight increase in tough economic times with the lodging sector seeing the largest increase,” said Maryl Koeth, executive director of the Van Buren Advertising & Promotion Commission.

Koeth is hopeful the fall numbers will continue the trend.

“We are doing some extra print advertising and we will be running TV spots for the fall travel season. We have several special events for October that should help boost the numbers for fall,” she explained.

For all of 2010, Van Buren hospitality tax collections totaled $395,195, down just 0.62% compared to 2009. For all of 2009, hospitality tax collections were down 7.1% compared to 2008. Hospitality tax collections for Van Buren in 2008 totaled $410,914, up 7.4% over 2007 and up more than 14.5% over 2006.

August collections in Fort Smith totaled $59,796, up an impressive 12.7% compared to August 2010.

Fort Smith hospitality tax collections during the first eight months of 2011 total $482,175, up 4.1% over the $463,074 in the 2010 period. The city collects a 3% tax on lodging.

Hotel tax collections in Fort Smith during all of 2010 totaled $678,934, up 1.04% compared to 2009. During 2009, Fort Smith hospitality tax collections totaled $671,912, down more than 16% from 2008. Fort Smith hospitality tax collections in 2008 totaled $803,591, 11% more than the $723,548 collected in 2007, and more than 19% above 2006 collections.

In the Fort Smith metro area, there were an estimated 9,400 employed in the leisure and hospitality sector during August, down from the 9,500 employed in the sector between May and July, but above the 8,900 the sector employed in August 2010. Sector employment reached a high of 9,800 in August 2008, according to the the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

STATE TOURISM
Arkansas’ 2% tourism collection garnered $7.116 million during the first seven months of 2011, up 1.74% compared to $6.994 million during the 2010 period. For all of 2010, the tax generated $11.492 million, up 0.99% compared to 2009. The collections were off the 2008 high of $12.005 million.

The state’s tourism sector — Leisure & Hospitality jobs — employed an estimated 105,300 during August, down compared to the 106,100 in July and 5.93% more than in August 2010.

HOTEL REPORT
Brad Garner, with Smith Travel Research, noted in this Hotel News Now report that summer 2011 “paints a picture of steady recovery” in the U.S. hotel industry. He said overall room demand grew by 4.1% between June and August.

“In fact, the summer travel season was stronger than we expected. STR’s initial forecast for the three-month period, which we published in April, projected only a 2.5% gain in hotel demand,” Smith explained in the report. “But as U.S. consumers continued to exercise their summer vacation birthright and corporations, armed with flush balance sheets and healthy profits, increased their travel budgets in earnest, demand for hotel rooms swelled to record-setting levels.”

The STR research shows that June, July and August each set individual records in their respective months for the most room nights sold in the history of the U.S. hotel industry. July topped the period with 105 million room nights sold — up 3.5% increase compared to July 2010.

Hotel demand has not waned.

Smith Travel Research reported Oct. 10 that hotel occupancy during the last week of September was up 2.7% compared to the 2010 period.