Lee tourist tax collections jump

FORT MYERS — Lee County's tourism growth fueled a 7.9% jump in tourist taxes collected in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 compared with the same period one year ago.

The Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau reports that taxes on tourists staying in paid accommodations totaled $28.6 million this fiscal year. That's 7.9% more than the $26.5 million they collected a year ago and nearly 30.9% more than the $22.7 million collected two years ago.

Tourist taxes pay for marketing the area, beach maintenance and baseball spring training complexes for the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins.

“These numbers are even more impressive given their historical context,” said Bureau Executive Director Tamara Pigott, in a statement. “The bed tax has dipped only three times in county history, the most recent being during the recession-hit 2009 season. The four-year climb in collections since then says a great deal about how hard our community has worked together to make our local tourism industry strong.”

In the most recent fiscal year, average occupancies at hotels rose 6.8% and the average daily rate rose 2.9%, the bureau says.