Osceola County plans to add vacation homes, hotels after seeing dip in tourism tax revenues

A slight decrease in Osceola County Tourism Tax Dollars has pushed the county to look at new ways of enticing more visitors.

The county’s tourism authority said it saw dominating tourist development tax numbers last year, but since numbers have dipped because of a weak economy.

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Experience Kissimmee is a marketing company that Osceola County funds to market tourism. The President and CEO, D.T Minich, said the increase in tourism visitation dollars was helped by a bounce back of the pandemic.

Minich said that at the beginning of the year, the county’s bed tax collection dropped 5%.

Osceola County said tourist revenue for December 2023 totaled $7.1 Million, down 4% compared to the prior year and still the second-highest December of all time.

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“That was a market adjustment. We have a lot of campaigns running right now to make sure Spring Break, Passover, and Easter are such important times for the tourism industry in Osceola County,” said Minich.

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