Tourist-tax collections are up 2.7% for March

Orange County’s monthly tourist-tax collections were up 2.7 percent for March, according to government figures released Tuesday.

The resort tax received by the county for March was $27.48 million. That’s up from $26.77 million in March 2016, according to county comptroller Phil Diamond.

The numbers were up despite Easter being in April this year; the holiday took place in March last year.

“Seasonal variations, such as the timing of spring breaks and Easter vacations can cause month-tomonth comparisons to be slightly misleading,” Diamond said. “This year it fell in April. Even with this, collections for March were up over last year.”

The results are in line with March’s hotel occupancy rate, which was up 0.7 percent year-toyear from 2016, according to a monthly report released recently by industry tracker STR.

For the first six months of Orange County’s fiscal year, tourist-tax collections are up 3.8 percent, going from $126.27 million to $131.03 million for the year beginning Oct. 1.

Tourist-development taxes are charged on short-term rentals, mostly hotels and motels.

Along with the spring break crowd, Central Florida also hosted basketball fans for the NCAA tournament games at Amway Center and folks in Orlando in the days leading up to WrestleMania 33 at Camping World Stadium. Theme park festivals at Epcot, SeaWorld Orlando and Universal Orlando were also in full stride.