NWA Tourism Tax Collections Surpass $4 Million in 2015
by February 15, 2016 12:02 am 145 views
Tourism tax collections in Northwest Arkansas were up almost 10 percent in 2015 — and that was in just 11 months.
According to the most recent data available from the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism, tourism tax collections in the six-county region of Benton, Carroll, Crawford, Madison, Sebastian and Washington continued to trend upward significantly, with a combined total of $4.14 million.
That is reflective of collections made from January through November, because the ADPT has not yet finished compiling data for the month of December.
For an apples-to-apples comparison of complete years, Northwest Arkansas tourism tax collections in 2014 totaled $3.79 million, up 26.5 percent from $3 million in 2009.
A 2 percent sales tax is collected in Arkansas on tourism-related business including lodging, theme parks, marinas and camping.
Benton County led the six-county area with $1.55 million in tourism tax collections in 2014 and $1.66 million through the first 11 months of 2015.
Additionally, and for the first time, Washington County also topped the $1 million mark in tourism tax collections, taking in $1.12 million through the first 11 months of 2015. That’s up a whopping 28.5 percent from 2014 totals.
Statewide tax collections in the tourism industry were $14.08 million in the first 11 months of 2015, up 2 percent from 2014.