With five months of reports left in fiscal year, Tax Collector’s Office already has received about 75% of total for 2025 fiscal year
Once again, the Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax — or, “bed tax” — revenue has set a new monthly record.
Following on the fact that March saw its collections exceed $8 million for the first time, April’s report noted a total of $5,579,236.62.
In 2025, the April revenue also topped $5 million, but the tally was more than $500,000 below the new April figure, as shown in the data recently released by Sarasota County Tax Collector Mike Moran and his staff.
In 2023, the April total also came in above $5 million, but that figure was $5,130,983.41, the Tax Collector’s Office has reported.
The latest data put the month-over-month difference for April — from 2025 to 2026 — at $564,108.33, marking an 11.2% increase.
Since the current fiscal year began on Oct. 1, 2025, the Tourist Development Tax (TDT) revenue has added up to $35,738,276.93, which is about 75% of the tally for the entire 2025 fiscal year: $47,424,261.05 — and that is with five months of funds left to be collected.
Through April of the 2025 fiscal year, the bed tax revenue totaled $30,808,913.31, the reports noted at that time.
The 6% tax is collected on rentals of accommodations for six months or less time. The money is used for a variety of purposes as outlined in a county ordinance. It goes toward beach maintenance and renourishment, for examples, as well as the marketing of the county to visitors.
Another detail in the new reports is that, through April, the funds collected by Airbnb hosts totaled $5,980,353.36. That is higher by approximately 43%, compared to the tally through April of the 2025 fiscal year: $4,170,541.15.
On a related note: Rentals of accommodations through online platforms — including HomeAway and TripAdvisor and all of their subsidiaries along with Airbnb — produced 22.91% of the TDT revenue through April. The figure through April of the 2025 fiscal year was 19.3%.
Further, Siesta Key is ahead of the City of Sarasota in the amount of the bed tax revenue that its hosts have turned over the Tax Collector’s Office. The figure is 24.28%. The city’s is 22.45%.
Through April 2025, the city was ahead with 25.27% of the total, compared to 21.88% for Siesta. However, many accommodations on Siesta were badly damaged by Hurricanes Helene and Milton in the fall of 2024, representatives of Visit Sarasota County, which is the tourism marketing organization for the county, and the Tax Collector’s Office have pointed out.
The City of Sarasota and Siesta Key vie annually to “win the title” for collecting the largest portion of the funds. The city prevailed in the 2025 fiscal year, but Siesta beat it in the 2024 fiscal year.
Additionally, the latest data show that collections for February and March have climbed, compared to the figures in the prior reports. The month-over-month jump in revenue for March has reached $715,022.91, compared to the initial figure of $552,674.87.
For February, the new reports put the month-over-month increase at $880,950.41. The previous reports said the difference was $817,321.73.
Tax Collector’s Office representatives have explained over the years that audits and other enforcement actions can lead to changed figures from one set of reports to the next. Moreover, staff members of the office search diligently to try to locate hosts who are not turning over the tax money to the office. Former Chief Deputy Tax Collector Sheri Smith often stressed that fact when she made annual appearances before the county’s Tourist Development Council.
Increases in both direct visitor expenditures and economic impact
Along with the Tax Collector’s Office’s data updates, Visit Sarasota County releases a monthly report on tourism details that are collected on its behalf by a Tallahassee firm, Downs & St. Germain Research.
Visit Sarasota President & CEO Erin Duggan noted in a recent news release, ““While visitation experienced a slight decline in April following a modest increase in March, visitor spending continued to rise year-over-year, reflecting the continued strength of our destination.”
Visitors’ expenditures climbed 3.1% this April, to $189,474,000, compared to the $183,768,700 tally for April 2025, the Downs & St. Germain report says.
Further, for the fiscal year to-date, through April, the company noted that the top origin markets for visitors to the county were New York City, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit.
The top fiscal year-to-date regions for producing tourism in the county were the Midwest (33.5%) and the Northeast (30.1%), Downs & St. Germain added. “All regions have experienced year-over-year decreases” in the number of visitors coming to the county, the company further reported, “except the Southeast (excluding Florida) (+20.2%) and the West (+17.8%).”
The total economic impact of tourism in the county in April was $267,158,900, the company said, which also was up 3.1%, compared to the April 2025 figure of $259,113,900.
Downs & St. Germain provided the following data, as well:
- The number of visitors this April was 113,400, which was down about 2%, compared to the 115,700 count in 2025.
- Lodging occupancy was 64.2% this April, compared to 68% in April 2025.
- The average room rate was $376.81, an uptick of 8%, compared to the $348.60 figure in April 2025
- Altogether, 302,400 room nights were sold this April, which marked a decline of approximately 3%, compared to the April 2025 count of 311,500.