See what has caused Orange County hotel tax revenue to drop again

ORLANDO, Fla. — Editor’s note: This story is available as a result of a content partnership between WFTV and the Orlando Business Journal.

Overseas travel and cruises are taking a bite out of Orlando hotels’ business, driving down Orange County’s tourist tax revenue yet again.

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Orange County tourist development tax collections declined in July 2023 — the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year decreases, according to Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond’s office. July 2023 collections were $27.17 million, down 5.2% from $28.66 million in July 2022.

The tax is levied on the sale of hotel, motel and short-term rentals and generates millions of dollars for Orange County each month. Those funds are used to pay for expansions and operations of the Orange County Convention Center and Visit Orlando. The money also is tapped into for incentives to lure big events and pay for upgrades to other regional tourism-generating venues such as Camping World Stadium, the Amway Center and the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

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Video: Commissioners call for transparency ahead of billion-dollar TDT discussion One day before Orange County commissioners were scheduled to discuss how to divide $900 million in future tourism development tax collections, rifts emerged tha (WFTV)

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