Hospitality, food spending up year to date across the state

(Updated, 10 a.m.)
PROVIDENCE – August’s hotel tax collections increased 22 percent over July’s collections, and nearly 9 percent above collections for the same time a year ago, according to data released Monday by the R.I. Department of Revenue.

The department’s Local 1 percent report is issued on a monthly basis for hotel, and meal and beverage tax collections.

Collections for the hotel tax totaled $522,481 for August as compared with $428,292 in July and $480,783 a year ago, the state reported.

The meal and beverage tax collection comparison was not as favorable, with August’s figure of $2.43 million coming in at six-tenths of a percentage point less than July’s figure of $2.44 million. However, this past August’s take was 7.4 percent higher than the collection of $2.3 million a year ago.

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Increases in hotel tax collections in Newport were the primary reason for the strong increases between July and August, said Director of Revenue Rosemary Booth Gallogly, though she couldn’t say why.

And even though year-over-year growth in hotel tax collections was strong at 8.7 percent, the year prior August collections had grown 11.6 percent on a year-over-year basis.

The comparative weakness in the August year-over-year growth “appears to be due to Providence, which saw the change in its local hotel tax receipts go from a positive $11,707 in August 2013 to a negative $9,120 in August 2014,” Gallogly said.

If measured by fiscal year, she added, the hotel tax revenue is 6 percent ahead of that for fiscal 2014.

“The fiscal year-to-date increase in local hotel taxes through August are solid and hopefully will provide a strong foundation upon which to rest as the peak tourist season begins to wind down,” she said in prepared remarks.

Gallogly said the “flat” meals and beverage revenue month to month mirrored last year’s July-to-August collections, adding that the year-over-year growth of 7.4 percent remains less than the year prior, which came in at 10 percent.

“Although the year-to-date growth rate in local meal and beverage tax collections was down relative to last year at this time, a growth rate of 7.4 percent is not trivial,” she stated.

The five communities with the largest percentage increase in the hotel tax collections between August and July this year were: Glocester, 194.5 percent; Newport, 73.5 percent; Jamestown, 29.5 percent; Charlestown, 23.6 percent; and Westerly, 22.8 percent.

The five communities with a decrease in the hotel tax collections for that same period were: Little Compton, -100.0 percent; Bristol, -70.7 percent; Pawtucket, -7.5 percent; Woonsocket, -6.6 percent; and Lincoln, -1.8 percent.

Year over year, Portsmouth led the hotel tax collections with an increase of 52 percent, followed by Jamestown with 45.8 percent and Richmond with 30.9 percent.

In meal and beverage tax collections from July to August, the largest increases were recorded for Coventry, 23.6 percent; Burrillville, 20.4 percent; Cumberland, 18.3 percent; Little Compton, 17.5 percent; and Hopkinton, 15.6 percent. The five communities with the largest percentage decreases were: Warren, -24.1 percent; Bristol, -19.6 percent; Scituate, -18.6 percent; Foster, -18.4 percent; and Barrington, -15.0 percent.

Year over year, the largest meal and beverage tax collection increases were in Jamestown, 54.6 percent; Bristol, 46.5 percent; and Charlestown, 25.4 percent.

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