May A&P tax report better than expected
May collections of the 3% hospitality tax the Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission levies on prepared food and lodging inside the city fell almost 20% compared to last year, according to a report the commission released.
Taxes collected in May raised
$493,709, a $122,620 drop compared to the previous May. March and April collections were down 45.50% and 54.34%, making May’s report welcome news.
“It’s still way below what it was, but it’s very good news,” Visit Hot Springs CEO Steve Arrison said Monday. “We’re making good progress. A lot of that really is on the operators. The lodging operators and the restaurant operators looked the directives over, and they’re doing everything they can to provide their product in a safe way.
“It’s paying off for them, but they still have a long way to go.”
Arrison said May’s report showed that the city’s leisure business has rebounded from its low earlier this spring. Lodging collections trailed last May by
23.04%. The drop in March and April was 80.59% and 87.93%. Lodging and dining collections through the first five months lagged last year’s pace by
$762,349, or 35.3%.
Arrison said the gap won’t be narrowed until the city’s convention business restarts.
“It’s still the meeting business that’s dead in the water,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll see that starting to pick up sometime soon. We’ve had over 80 cancellations since March 13. Almost all of that business is rebooked for next year. Hopefully, if we can get this behind us, next year will be a record year.”
Arrison said the convention business generates thousands of hotel bookings a year, especially for downtown hotels. It’s also a marketing tool.
“A lot of people who come here for conventions will return with their families as leisure tourists, so we’re missing out on that, as well,” he said. “They’re not getting that chance to experience Hot Springs.”
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Garland County, had 3,600 fewer nonfarm jobs in May than it did the previous May. Jobs fell from 39,700 to 36,100, according to the preliminary report. The job loss was less severe than April’s. The area economy had 5,800 fewer jobs in April than it did in April 2019.
April unemployment was reported at 15.6%, with 6,300 unemployed in a civilian labor force of 40,000 people. The preliminary report for May listed a 13.6% unemployment rate, with 5,700 of the 41,700 people in the May labor force unemployed.
The county’s 2019 April and May unemployment rates were 3% and 3.4%.