PROVIDENCE – Collections from the state 5 percent hotel tax fell 0.3 percent year over year in January, but increased nearly 11 percent when comparing the first seven months of the fiscal year to the same prior-year period, the state Department of Revenue said Wednesday.
Collections in January totaled $689,836, a drop from $692,157 a year earlier. Revenue is shared among eight regional tourism districts, municipalities, R.I. Commerce Corp. and the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Regional tourism districts, which received the largest share of the collections at $233,819, had a 9.8 percent revenue decrease over the year, something the DOR said was due to the change in the allocation formula. The Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau also saw its share fall 6.4 percent to $100,296. Municipalities received a 1.7 percent revenue increase to $158,636. Under the new funding formula, the R.I. Commerce Corp. received $197,084; previously, the funding Commerce RI received was allocated to the state.
The R.I. Convention Center Authority received none of the revenue generated by the Omni Providence Hotel in January. A year ago, it received $20,489, or 30 percent of the revenue generated by the 5 percent tax at that hotel. Due to the formula change, RICCA no longer receives funding from this source.
Comparing the first seven months of the fiscal year with the same period last fiscal year, 5 percent hotel collections increased 10.9 percent to $12 million, with municipalities seeing the largest gain at 11.1 percent, to $2.9 million, followed by regional tourism districts with a 9.8 percent increase to $4.9 million, and the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau, with a 9.6 percent jump to $1.5 million. Commerce R.I. has received $2.7 million through the January fiscal period.
Reflecting the formula change, the convention center authority saw its portion fall 8.7 percent to $165,897.