Tourism tax revenue down through August in Fort Smith and Van Buren
by October 8, 2025 12:06 pm 428 views
Downtown Van Buren is one of the top tourism draws in the Fort Smith metro.
Hospitality tax revenues in the Fort Smith metro are down compared with 2024, but tourism officials believe the year will end not far off from last year, which was a big year for tourism gains thanks to events tied to the 2024 solar eclipse.
Fort Smith hospitality tax collections for July and August totaled $184,926, down 24.8% from the same months in 2024 when the collections were $245,985, according to Ashleigh Bachert, executive director of the Fort Smith Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).
“We have five hotels that have not reported their July and August numbers,” she said. “Although the numbers are low, we are still waiting to receive the final reports from those properties to determine our actual numbers for those month.”
Collections were $99,836 in July, down 19.6% from $124,183 collected in July 2024, and $85,090 in August, down 30.1% from $121,802 of the previous year. So far this year, Fort Smith has collected $800,549 in tourism tax revenue, down 8.45% from $874,472 collected in the first eight months of 2024.
“We continue to be close to 2023 numbers and are steadily chipping away at the 2024 numbers for comparison,” Bachert said. “While we will be down from last year, it’s important to note that we have seen new groups coming into the community to host their events, which means that there is interest in Fort Smith, and we are looking forward to helping them become a repeat client and cycle their event back into our market in future years.”
Van Buren had $36,986 in hotel tax collections in July and August, down 11.9% from $41,976 in July 2024. The city collected $19,102 in hotel tax collections in July and $17,884 in August. Prepared food tax collection saw an increase over the hot summer months. The July and August total was $113,105, up 0.31% from $112,751 collected in July and August 2024.
The total tourism revenue in July and August was $150,091, down 3% from $154,725 collected in the same period of 2024. The city has $576,745 in combined hotel and prepared food tax collections so far in 2025, down 6% from the same period in 2024.
“Much like all other sales taxes, our has been up and down throughout 2025,” said Maryl Purvis, director of the Van Buren Advertising and Promotion Commission. “I continue to see a slow upward trend, but still anticipate we will be flat or slightly below where we were last year.”