Tourism a topic in Davis
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Wednesday, May 30, 2007 | 
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No comments [ Add Comment ]By Loretta Park
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
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By Loretta Park
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
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By Loretta Park
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
FARMINGTON -- More people are eating in Davis County restaurants, but fewer people are staying in the hotels, county officials said.
Yet, the transient room tax increased by 27 percent in 2006. That's the tax collected at local hotels and motels, said Clerk/Auditor Steve Rawlings.
And the county expects to see another increase this year.
The reason? A quarter percent increase was approved by the Davis County Commission in October last year.
Room occupancy has decreased slightly for various reasons, said Barbara Riddle, president and chief executive officer of the Davis Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Hotel occupancy in Davis County for the first quarter this year was down by 25,000 compared to the same time last year, according to the Rocky Mountain Lodging Report.
"We've had major renovations of the three larger hotels here in Davis County," Riddle said.
Those renovations mean fewer rooms available for tourists, she said.
Also several hotels have seen a turnover in the manager and marketing positions, Riddle said.
On the upside, more people are eating at Davis County restaurants, she said.
"More of our residents are eating out, and others are stopping as they come through our county," she said.
Rawlings said the county collected almost $2.5 million from the restaurant tax in 2006, which was about 10 percent more than in 2005. The county is expecting to collect $2.8 million this year, which is about an 11 percent increase from the previous year.
Overall, the county is expecting to collect about 13 percent more in tourism tax revenue this year than in previous years, Rawlings said. Tourism tax revenue includes the restaurant tax, transient room tax and car rental tax.
About $2.8 million will go to pay for the Davis County Conference Center, its operations and the expansion, as well as the county's share of the South Davis Recreation Center.
About $1.2 million will go toward other tourism and economic development activities, Rawlings said.
Commissioner Alan Hansen said the numbers overall indicate the convention and visitors bureau is getting the word out that Davis County "is, in the words of a former commissioner, 'The center of the universe.'"
Antelope Island is one of the county's "diamonds" that is starting to be recognized as a place to visit, Hansen said. He has lived in Davis County all of his life, and the first time he visited the island was shortly after the first causeway was built in the late 1960s.
"I didn't realize how beautiful the views are," Hansen said.
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