Tax Collector’s Office reports show March to have highest month-over-month drop so far this fiscal year
The Sarasota Bradenton International Airport may have had a record-setting March, but for Sarasota County’s Tourist Development Tax — or, “bed tax” — March marked the worst month-over-month drop in revenue thus far this fiscal year, based on the latest reports issued by Sarasota County Tax Collector Mike Moran and his staff.
The total amount of Tourist Development Tax (TDT) funds turned over to the Tax Collector’s Office for March added up to $6,998,076.79, which was down by $878,375.35 — approximately 11.2% — compared to the $7,876,452.14 collected for March 2024, the reports show.
Through the first half of this fiscal year, the only month with a drop nearly as high as March’s was October 2024, when the TDT revenue was $827,818.64 lower than it was in October 2023.
The March 2024 figure was a new record for the county’s bed tax revenue, as staff of the Tax Collector’s Office has pointed out. That was the first time the monthly total had climbed above $7 million.
The TDT money derives from a 6% tax charged on rentals of accommodations for six months or less time. A county ordinance specifies how the funds can be spent. The money goes toward beach maintenance, upkeep of the two Major League Baseball Spring Training stadiums in the county and the promotion of the area to tourists, among other uses.
Overall, through March of this year, the revenue is down by $3,016,843.01, compared to the total collected through March 2024, the reports note. The fiscal year began on Oct. 1, 2024.
The initial reports that the Tax Collector’s Office issued for March 2024 showed the amount turned over by hosts of accommodations through that month added up to $28,415,075.26. Thus, the total collected so far this fiscal year — $25,579,195.29 — marks a drop of about 10% from the figure for the same period of the 2024 fiscal year.
Through March 2024, the TDT revenue was down by $1,258,263.11, compared to amount for the same period of the 2023 fiscal year.
In FY 2023, the county set a record with its bed tax revenue. For the first time, the total climbed above $50 million: $50,480,483.07. By the end of the 2024 fiscal year, the amount ended up at $48,381,296.49.
Last year, numerous accommodations in the county suffered extensive damage from Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The Tax Collector’s Office staff worked with the staff of Visit Sarasota County, the tourism marketing agency for the county, to update a list of places to stay as repairs were made, Chief Deputy Tax Collector Sherri Smith told the county’s Tourist Development Council earlier this year.
Along with the hurricane damage, state and national news media reports have pointed to fewer visitors from Canada to the United States this year, especially, because of political issues. On April 14, Forbes pointed out, “Three times as many Canadians are staying away from the U.S. than the national travel industry first predicted …”
In March, Forbes added, “[T]he number of Canadians taking road trips into the U.S. — representing the majority of Canadians who visit — dropped by 32% compared to March 2024, according to new data from Statistics Canada.”
In years past, tourism data has indicated high numbers of Canadian visitors to Sarasota County.
Among other details in the new reports from the Tax Collector’s Office, the tally of revenue from Airbnb hosts through March was $3,535,547.25. That was down approximately 8.3%, compared to the total reported through March 2024: $3,853,919.44.
Airbnb is the only one of the online accommodations rental platforms that allows the Tax Collector’s Office to list its revenue from Sarasota County hosts. The funds from hosts working through other platforms with which the county has agreements — TripAdvisor and HomeAway and all of their subsidiaries — are combined in the monthly “Location” report, which shows the total percentage of the TDT revenue coming from those platforms.
Through March, accommodations rented online through the companies represented 19.73% of the bed tax money that has been turned over the Tax Collector’s Office. Through March 2024, the figure was 21.07%.
Further, in regard to the location reporting, the City of Sarasota and Siesta Key traditionally have waged a “battle” to see which will have collected the highest amount of TDT revenue by the end of each fiscal year. Siesta won last year, but the city prevailed the two prior years.
Through March of this year, the money collected by accommodations’ hosts in the city represented 25.51% of the total. Siesta accounted for 21.08%.
Hosts in the other unincorporated areas of Sarasota County have contributed 16.24% so far this fiscal year, the location report shows.
Through March 2024, Siesta was responsible for 26.86% of the total funds at that point of the fiscal year, with the city’s share put at 24.58%, and the unincorporated areas of the county having collected 14.06%.
Among other details in the latest reports, the drop in TDT revenue for February, compared to the February 2024 tally, has been reduced. The new data show that decline as $365,571.54, compared to $393,038.10 in the previous report.
The month-over-month decrease for January also is lower, the new reports show. The prior reports’ figure was $494,227.75. The new tally represents a month-over-month fall of $479,622.11.
However, the latest figure for December 2024 marks a higher month-over-month drop than the previous reports. It is $185,083.11, compared to $181,010.92.
Staff of the Tax Collector’s Office has explained that audits and other enforcement action can change the totals from one month to the next.
More data, courtesy of Visit Sarasota County
In addition to the monthly reports produced by the Tax Collector’s Office, Visit Sarasota County uses a Tallahassee firm, Downs & St. Germain Research, to collect relevant data.
A report produced earlier this month for the Visit Sarasota County board of directors showed that the number of visitors to the county in March of this year was 155,800, which was down 2.2% from the March 2024 count of 159,400. However, their overall spending this March — $234,521,100 — was up slightly, by 0.8% — compared to the March 2024 figure of $232,641,200.
The following data also were included in that report:
- Lodging occupancy was unchanged from March 2024 to March of this year; it was 83.3%.
- The average daily room rate this March rose by 14.7% — to $386 — compared to $336.51 in March 2024.
- The number of room nights sold this March was 373,000, which was down about 3.4%, compared to the 385,800 tally in March 2024.