PROVIDENCE – Five percent hotel tax collections rose 7 percent in August, and 3.4 percent on a fiscal year-to-date basis, the R.I. Department of Revenue said Friday.
The state agency said 5 percent hotel tax collections increased to $2.9 million in August compared with $2.7 million in August 2015.
The DOR said the year-over-year growth, at 7 percent, was higher than the 4.9 percent increase reported from August 2014 to August 2015.
Collections also grew to $5.8 million in the first two months of the fiscal year compared with $5.6 million during the same prior fiscal period.
Regional tourism districts received $2.5 million fiscal year to date, an increase of 3.1 percent from the prior-year period, while municipalities received $1.4 million, a 4.1 percent increase. R.I. Commerce Corp. received $1.3 million, an 8.5 percent increase; and the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau, $640,267, a 4.2 percent increase.
Due to a formula change, the R.I. Convention Center Authority did not receive any funding fiscal year to date, while it received $66,156 in the year-ago fiscal period.