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Hillsborough tourism leaders say first-quarter bed-tax collections lag year ago; timing tied to hurricane-season effects

Hillsborough County Tourist Development Council · February 12, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

At the Feb. 12 Tourist Development Council meeting, staff reported first-quarter bed-tax outlays outpaced collections and that 3¢ collections were about 17% below the prior year, a difference officials attributed largely to last year’s hurricane-season timing and not an underlying long-term decline.

Ron Barton, the council’s administrative presenter, told the Hillsborough County Tourist Development Council on Feb. 12 that first‑quarter outlays typically outpace collections and that the 3¢ bed‑tax collections were running “about 17% below last year.” Barton said the pattern is partly driven by a timing difference tied to hurricane‑season activity in the prior year that produced occupancy bumps and cautioned the council against overreacting to the raw year‑over‑year number.

Santiago, a Visit Tampa Bay…

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