PROVIDENCE – State hotel tax revenue grew 3.9 percent, to $725,880 in December, compared with $698,734 in December 2014, the Department of Revenue said Friday.
The hotel tax revenue is distributed to the eight regional tourism districts, municipalities, R.I. Commerce Corp., and the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau.
In December, the eight regional tourism districts received $245,811, a nearly 16 percent decrease compared with December 2014; municipalities received $168,714, a 5.2 percent increase; Commerce RI received $207,312 (this department only began receiving a portion of hotel tax revenue in July; prior to this period, this portion was deposited as general revenue), and the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau received $95,043, an 8.3 percent decrease.
In December, Newport received the largest portion of the municipalities’ share of the revenue generated from the state 5 percent hotel tax at $47,246, an increase of $14,771 or 45.5 percent compared with December 2014. Providence received the second-largest portion at $44,907, a decrease of $4,714 or 9.5 percent from a year ago, and Warwick received the third-largest portion at $31,728, an increase of $304 or 1 percent, compared with a year ago.
On a fiscal year to date basis, 5 percent hotel tax revenue increased 11.7 percent, to $11.4 million from $10.2 million during the prior fiscal period. Municipalities again received the greatest percentage increase in revenue at 11.7 percent, to $2.7 million compared with $2.4 million during the prior fiscal period.