Mix Results on Arkansas Tourism Tax, Job Numbers

Tuesday, February 8, 2022 at 12:00 AM

There is good news and not-so-good news for Arkansas’ tourism industry in a recently released report.

According to the report managed by Talk Business and Politics and sponsored by the Arkansas Hospitality Association, the state’s 2% tourism tax is on pace to top the $20 million mark for the first time in 2021.

The not-so-good news is tourism job numbers are 8.3% below pre-pandemic levels and hotel tax revenue still lags.

The state’s 2% tourism tax revenue between January and October 2021 compared with the same period the previous year is up 50%. Last year’s numbers are up 15.6% over the same period in 2019. The 2019 collections set a record for the tax.

The report drills down to the top 10 counties in terms of the 2% tourism tax collections for January-October 2021, with Baxter County in the group.

Baxter’s increase of 18% was the lowest among the 10 counties, with Washington County’s the highest at 70.5%. Baxter’s collections reached $500,683 for the nine-month period from January-October.

January-October hospitality tax collections among 17 cities surveyed for the Arkansas Tourism Ticker were up 30.1% compared with the same period in 2020.

Harrison is among the 17 cities surveyed, with the report showing the Boone County city’s collections were up 33.5% in 2021 over the previous year.

Click here for the Arkansas Tourism Ticker full report and data.

(From KTLO)

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