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Tourism office projects visitor growth, asks county to fund new manager role from bed-tax revenues
Summary
Tourism staff reported rising visitor counts, proposed consolidating tourism and Agri‑Civic Center management into one manager position funded from bed-tax revenue, and discussed Airbnb collections, short‑term rental identification and the tourism reserve.
Denise (tourism staff) told the Okeechobee County Board of County Commissioners that calendar-year visitor counts have climbed from about 5.9 million in 2022 to 7.1 million in 2024 and that the first five months of 2025 show about 3.2 million visitors.
"So we are on target for another, high level visitor year," Denise said, adding that tourism is funded from the local tourism revenue (bed) tax and not general-tax dollars. She presented a fiscal 2025–26 tourism special-revenue fund request of $511,905, noting personnel is budgeted at $203,663 (an increase related to reorganizing to add a manager who would cover tourism and the Agri‑Civic Center), operating of $308,242 and an overall increase of about 8 percent. Denise told commissioners she expects tourism‑tax revenues to cover the request.
Commissioners asked for clarification on per‑visitor spending and the makeup of short‑term rentals. Denise said the Florida estimate of per‑visitor daily spend is about $108 (a figure she noted is more than five years old) and that her office considers $100 per visitor per day to be a reasonable conservative estimate. She also said roughly 200–229 short‑term rental listings have been identified locally and that the county receives bed‑tax through major platforms when hosts register on platforms such as Airbnb or VRBO. Staff advised that a small number of hosts list only a few times per year and that Denise’s office has reached out to identified hosts; the tourism office does not believe a significant amount of bed tax is going uncollected but offered to continue analysis and trial software to search for unregistered listings.
Denise described a tourism reserve used for event seed funding and large event support (examples cited included Bassmaster Elite and a downtown sculpture project) and noted a modest transfer to Cliff Betts Lakeside Recreation Area for maintenance. Commissioners asked about hiring a manager; Denise said applicants had been limited and she did not want to hire someone without relevant tourism promotion experience.
No formal action was taken; commissioners asked staff to continue reviewing short‑term rental compliance and to return with more information if the software trial demonstrates missed collections.
