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Chamber urges county investment or lodging-tax plan as visits and lodging spending fall
Summary
The Chamber presented visitation and spending data showing a post‑pandemic fall in visits and urged the county to fund sustained destination marketing — proposing a lodging tax, county bridge funds or a hybrid to rebuild overnight visitation and lodging revenue.
A representative of the local Chamber presented data and analysis on Hubbard County—s visitor economy and urged the board to re-engage on destination marketing funding.
The Chamber said it used Placer AI mobile-analytics and Explore Minnesota economic data to show visitation trends, visitor-origin definitions, daily-seasonality patterns and per-visitor spending. The data show a large Covid-era jump in visits in 2020–2021 and a decline in visits in 2022–2024; Park Rapids visits in 2024 trended about 3% down year-over-year, which Chamber staff linked to lagging sales-tax receipts. The presenter explained that Placer AI—s visit count excludes short pass-through visits and counts visitors who come from more than 50 miles away and spend at least 10 minutes at a location.
The presenter highlighted that overnight lodging (resort/visitor stays) generates a much higher per‑day spend than second‑home or seasonal resident spending and said Hubbard County currently posts a high share of second-home spending and has lost resort properties. The Chamber compared county performance with neighboring tourist counties and noted Lake Of The Woods and Otter Tail counties had stronger lodging performance after sustained marketing investments and, in Otter Tail—s case, a county-hired talent-attraction coordinator.
On funding, the Chamber revisited an earlier lodging-tax discussion. Presenters and commissioners discussed options: (1) a lodging tax (visitor-paid), (2) county levy dollars or (3) a hybrid or staged approach in which county economic-development funds temporarily bridge initial marketing outlays while a lodging tax phases in. Staff warned that a county sales-tax option would require a broader referendum and that state law and legislative moratoriums limit some sales-tax options. Several commissioners said a temporary, bridge contribution from the county—s economic-development reserves to get a marketing program started could be considered if it was not permanent.
Ending: The Chamber asked the board to convene a broader stakeholder discussion, including lodging and small-business representatives and housing-development partners, to identify a feasible funding path and targets (e.g., modest annual lodging growth) and to coordinate destination marketing with resident-recruitment objectives.
