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Visit Omaha reports sustained visitation but flags lodging-tax headwinds; budget edges up to $12M
Summary
The Convention and Visitors Bureau told the council visitation metrics remain strong but it expects lodging-tax declines and will rely on reserves and a small general-fund increase as the 2027 budget rises to about $12 million.
The Omaha Convention and Visitors Bureau (Visit Omaha) reported continued visitation from target markets and projected changes in lodging-tax revenues for 2027.
The bureau said it welcomed more than 3,000,000 visitors from key target markets in a recent period and that visitation to date for the current year from target markets was approaching 2,000,000. It told council members its booked future conventions translate into substantial projected economic impact (the bureau's sales team had 188 pieces of business on the books with more than $140,000,000 in projected economic impact mentioned). As it plans for 2027, Visit Omaha expects a 6.6% decrease in lodging and occupation tax revenues and proposes increasing its budget by 1.68% (about $199,891) to a $12,000,000 total, using $500,000 in reserves and a $100,000 increase in the city general-fund contribution to compensate for expected hotel-tax pressure.
Why it matters: hotel and lodging taxes are a core revenue source for tourism promotion and affect how Visit Omaha budgets sales and marketing to attract events and conventions.
