17 Nov Tourism Snapshot: YTD in Essex County
ROOST keeps a close eye on indicators such as Smith Travel Report data and occupancy tax collections to gauge our destinations’ economic health and to compare to our competitive set.
Following is a snapshot of numbers to date!
JAN-SEPT 2016 compared to JAN-SEPT 2015*
Essex County Statewide Upstate New York
Occupancy UP 2.4% 0.0% UP 0.2%
Revenue UP 4.1% UP 2.4% UP 3.8%
*Based on the Smith Travel Report (STR), which represents 67.9 percent of the rooms in Essex County.
OCCUPANCY TAX COLLECTIONS – ESSEX COUNTY
JAN-SEPT, 2016: $1,772,600
Based on these occupancy tax collections, which do not include day trips and other overnight visitation, we can estimate that taxable lodging sales were $59,075,000.
Travel research indicates that lodging normally represents 1/3 of a traveler’s expenses.
That means that YTD in 2016:
- Estimated travel expenditures (tracked through occupancy tax only – which doesn’t include day trips and other overnight visits) in Essex County = $177,225,000
- SALES TAX determined via occupancy tax collections through September by travelers to Essex County = $7,089,000
Factors that played a part in this year’s tourism activity include the largest conference year in North Elba’s history, terrific weather for outdoor activities, events all over the county, including Ironman, the Lake Placid Horse Shows, Summit Lacrosse Tournaments, the Bike Fest in Wilmington, Adirondack Harvest Festival in Westport, a huge bass fishing tournament schedule on Lake Champlain, the Adirondack Distance Festival in Schroon Lake and a big push in leisure travel promotion.
ROOST will post a year-end report in February!
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