Orange hotel tax revenue jumps 15%
The trend of Orange County hotel tax revenue increasing year-over-year remains steady entering 2018.
Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond announced the tax generated $23.7 million in January, a nearly 15 percent jump from January 2017.
“We all hope for a strong economy. This is a great way to start the new year,” Diamond said in a press release.
The 6 percent surcharge is taxed on short-term rentals, mostly hotels and motels.
The hotel tax helps pay for projects that are intended to grow tourism, including expansions at Orange County Convention Center or landing more high-profile sporting events, such as the NFL Pro Bowl at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium.
The tax revenues have been on the rise as more hotels are built and unforeseen circumstances happen, such as Hurricane Irma that forced evacuees from elsewhere in the state to come stay in the Orlando area for several days. president and CEO, in a statement. “We look forward to offering another travel opportunity into New York State.”
The flights connecting Florida to the Central New York region will initially operate two days per week on Wednesday and Saturday, according a press release which did not give introductory prices.
So far this year, airports officials have announced several new flights.
That includes seasonal flights from Portland, Ore, to Orlando International Airport this summer on Sun Country Airlines, officials said.
The region will also have more access to cities in Alabama as both Orlando International and Sanford airports announced new routes that begin in May.
Silver Airways will start flying to Huntsville International Airport from Orlando International.
Via Airlines will service Mobile and Montgomery regional airports.
It’s been a busy travel season for the Orlando airports.
Orlando International recorded 44.6 million passengers in 2017 and became the busiest airport in the state, officials said last month.
A former Epcot restaurant is getting a makeover that will cement its role as a flexible-use space for the Walt Disney World theme park. Odyssey, the angular building sandwiched between the park’s Mexico pavilion and Test Track attraction, will have a wide array of ever-changing purposes as Epcot expands, says Dave Kesting, general manager of Epcot festivals.
“We’re going to be evolving Epcot pretty heavily. We’ve started,” he says.
“We’ll look at all our open venues and see what priorities we need to have for the park. So it’s going to be flex space for whatever we need it to be,” Kesting says. “It could be a restaurant one day, it could be a merchandise shop the next day, it could be character greeting — whatever we need it to be.”
The Odyssey structure, which opened with the park in 1982, currently is undergoing a “light remodel,” Kesting says. The result will be a more permanent solution for temporary tenants. In recent months, the space has been used for demonstrations and exhibits during the Epcot International Festival of the Arts and a craft-beer stop for the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival.
It’s dark during the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival, currently running daily through May 28. But it’s not as dark as it already used to be. The large black panels on its exterior have been subbed out with less opaque glass.
“Now people can see inside,” Kesting says. “So, like in the Festival of the Arts, ‘Hey, there’s an animators class going on. Hey, there are great displays and artists working and there’s programming in this place.’
“And the folks inside will see the beautiful park from the inside, instead of being in what we call a black box.”
Among the additions coming to Epcot are a “Guardians of the Galaxy” ride, an indoor roller coaster under construction where Ellen’s Energy Adventure operated until last year and a “Ratatouille” ride in the France pavilion. No opening dates have been announced.