PROVIDENCE – Five percent hotel tax collections for March 2017 declined 9.7 percent year over year but collections for fiscal 2017 remained ahead of the same fiscal 2016 period, according to the R.I. Department of Revenue.
Collection in March 2017 totaled $966,948, $103,499 less than one year before. Fiscal year-to-date, 5 percent hotel tax collections increased 2.3 percent to $14.3 million.
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The 5 percent hotel tax is collected and redistributed to municipalities as well as to tourism-related agencies, including the R.I. Commerce Corp. and the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau. Money was previously distributed to the R.I. Convention Center Authority, but that distribution was discontinued at the end of the 2015 calendar year. Below are breakdowns for distributions from the tax collections for March as well as the totals through March for fiscal 2017.
March collections
- Regional tourism districts in March received $357,276, a 3.2 percent decline year over year.
- Municipalities were allocated $219,466 in March, a 10.9 percent decline over the year.
- The R.I. Commerce Corp. was allocated $247,969 in March, a 19.3 percent decline year over year. One reason for the drop was the decline in Commerce RI’s allocation from 28 percent of hotel tax collections in March 2016 to 21 percent in March 2017.
- The Providence Warwick Convention and Visitor’s Bureau received $142,237 in allocation of the 5 percent hotel tax in February, a decrease of 3.8 percent year over year.
Fiscal 2017 year-to-date March collections
- Regional tourism districts collected $5.8 million, a 3.9 percent year-over-year increase. Allocation of 5 percent hotel tax to regional tourism districts increased from 42 percent to 47 percent after June 2016.
- Municipalities were allocated $3.4 million, a 2.8 percent increase year over year.
- R.I. Commerce Corp. was allocated $3.4 million, a 3.8 percent year-over-year gain.
- The Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau was allocated $1.8 million, a 3.1 percent increase year over year.
- The R.I. Convention Center Authority has received nothing in 5 percent hotel tax allocation in fiscal 2017, after being allocated $165,897 through the same time period in fiscal 2016. Allocation to the RICCA was discontinued at the start of the 2016 calendar year.
Aquidneck Island was the tourism district with the largest allocation in March, receiving $117,528, an increase of 4.6 percent, as well as fiscal year-to-date, with an allocation of $2.5 million, itself an increase of 5.2 percent. Aquidneck Island allocations increased the most nominally fiscal year-to-date in March as well.
The Convention Authority of Providence collections increased the most nominally for the month of March for any regional tourism district, increasing $6,469 to $109,295.
Providence received the largest 5 percent hotel tax allocation in March for any municipality, $69,476, a 1.6 percent decline from 2016. Portsmouth was the municipality with the largest nominal year-over-year increase in March, $2,184.
Newport has received the largest 5 percent hotel tax allocation year to date, collecting $937,285, a 2 percent increase year over year. Providence collections increased the most nominally fiscal year to date, $28,869.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
