Rolla Chamber outlines tourism benchmarks, motel-tax boost and expanded destination grants

The Rolla Chamber of Commerce presented a year-end tourism report to Rolla City Council, highlighting a successful ballot measure to raise the motel tax, digital upgrades to the city’s tourism website and an expanded grant program to help attract events.

Stevie Kearse, executive director of the Rolla Chamber of Commerce, said voters approved a 2-percentage-point increase to the city’s motel tax in August, raising the city’s rate from 3% to 5%. The higher rate began to be collected in November and the chamber began receiving the additional funds in January 2025, Kearse said. The chamber receives 90% of the tax proceeds; the city retains 10% for administration.

Amy Campbell, the chamber’s tourism director, described marketing work funded in part by a Missouri Division of Tourism marketing grant that reimbursed half the cost of a website update and a co-funded out-of-area billboard. Campbell said the chamber’s refreshed site, visitrolla.com, offers focused pages (music listings, races, summer camps and seasonal events) that the chamber links to in paid social and digital advertising. “Those bubbles linked to these pages,” Campbell told council members while demonstrating the site.

Campbell also said the chamber produces tent-card QR codes placed in hotel rooms; the cards generated roughly 150–175 hits per month before the site migration and tracking reset. Kearse and Campbell described additional outreach that includes billboards on city approaches, co-funded billboard placement outside a 50-mile radius through the Division of Tourism grant, and frequent contact with Fort Leonard Wood newcomer groups and local event planners.

Benchmark data: the chamber reported 2024 motel-tax receipts exceeded 2023 by $18,800 on the 90% share the chamber receives. The chamber also reported an average daily lodging rate of about $109 in Rolla for 2024 and average monthly occupancy that, on aggregate, exceeded the Missouri statewide average, according to Smith Travel Research data the chamber purchases.

Destination grants and process: Kearse and Campbell reviewed the Destination Rolla grant program, which distributes tourism funds to help attract events and groups. The chamber said it opened applications earlier in the year to allow awardees time for 2025 planning and that the grant pool was doubled this year; awards are typically finalized in December once the chamber’s budget is set. The council was asked to appoint one or two council members to a destination-grant committee; Kearse said the committee and chamber board had finalized internal approvals and that council appointments would be requested at a future meeting. The chamber’s next grant committee meeting is scheduled for May 15.

Why it matters: the motel-tax increase and marketing grants are intended to grow visitor spending and support local events; the chamber said electronic tracking and hotel QR codes have improved the chamber’s ability to measure visitor engagement.

Ending: council members asked follow-up questions about tracking QR-code use and hotel occupancy trends; the chamber said it will continue quarterly reporting and work with hotel managers on visitor-origin data and post-tornado recovery outreach.