Central Florida's tourism, sports and arts industries are getting a bigger allowance — sort of.
The Orange County Commission unanimously approved a new resort tax plan at its Oct. 22 meeting that will increase the tourist development tax funding used by various local groups, including Visit Orlando, the region's tourism bureau; sports marketing and bid efforts; as well as the arts community.
The tax is collected on hotel, motel and other short-term rental sales, and is used to fund tourism-related needs, such as upgrading community venues like Camping World Stadium and the Orange County Convention Center, as well as providing the funding needed for Visit Orlando to market the region to domestic and international visitors. The money also can be used to attract meetings and conventions to the region.
Here's a breakdown of the new deal:
Visit Orlando, which currently receives 23% of each year's total tourist tax collections, will have that percentage incrementally increased to 30% by 2023. Visit Orlando received more than $50 million in resort tax funding this year, which means it may see millions of additional dollars when the max bump takes effect.
The county's sports incentive fund, which is used to draw sports events here and then promote them, will have its recurring annual funding increased from $2 million to $4 million.
It creates a new $1.5 million annual fund along with up to $500,000 to match new donations for United Arts of Central Florida through 2022, which will be used to support arts organizations, operations and encourage donations to the arts and culture community. It also can be used to help local arts groups rent space in venues such as the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
The tourism industry funding can be used for more marketing campaigns that draw visitors to the region, and it supports efforts that are trying to lure sporting events such as WrestleMania and the FIFA World Cup and the ongoing investments needed for the $605 million expansion of the Orange County Convention Center.
That expansion includes a new ballroom, multipurpose venue and meeting rooms to the North-South Building, and many other infrastructure upgrades. The convention center alone is responsible for more than $2 billion in annual economic impact to the region, as well as attracting more than 2 million visitors.
Last year Orlando's $70 billion tourism industry welcomed a record 75 million visitors.
In addition, the benefit of more funding to boost the region's ability to draw sporting events is welcome, Jason Siegel, CEO of the Greater Orlando Sports Commission told Orlando Business Journal. "At the end of the day, it's about being able to compete, have resources and continue to fulfill our mission to drive economic impact, as well as bring events and have a return on those investments."
For example, the funding will help Central Florida compete for major events like the next WrestleMania, NFL Pro Bowl or other marquee event that not only brings hordes of new visitors to Orlando, but also can be televised globally and provide free promotion of Orlando's amenities. Sports events generate more than $44 billion in annual economic impact, based on industry data.
Source: Orlando Business Journal
