ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Tourist tax collections for March and April reflect the strain that COVID-19 closures had on Anna Maria Island vacation rentals before Gov. Ron DeSantis allowed them to resume business on May 21.
April collections, released this month by the Manatee County Tax Collector’s office, reflect a 90% drop in Anna Maria and 85% drops in both Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach over April 2019. Countywide, tourist tax receipts dropped 70%.
Collections in March, the height of the local tourist season, were down 64% in Bradenton Beach and 46% in both Anna Maria and Holmes Beach over March 2019. In all of Manatee County, tax collections were down 52% for that same period.
The March and April declines are far greater than even Hurricane Irma’s impact on local tourism, according to Tax Collector records. In October 2017, the month after Irma hit the west coast of Florida, local tourist tax receipts were down only 8% in Holmes Beach from October 2016, and increased by 1% in Anna Maria and 4% in Bradenton Beach from the previous year.
March and April 2020 collections are in sharp contrast to January and February collections, paid before the state closed vacation rentals to limit the spread of the coronavirus on March 27.
In January, Anna Maria was up 13%, Bradenton Beach was down less than 1% and Holmes Beach was up 35%. In February, Anna Maria was up 30%, Bradenton Beach was up 4% and Holmes Beach was up 45%.
Manatee County’s 5% tourist tax is collected from vacation rental owners who rent accommodations for six months or less who charge the tax to their renters, in most cases, tourists.
About half of the tax proceeds are allocated to the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, whose budget – the majority of which is dedicated to tourism marketing –will be impacted by the drop in revenue.
Another 20% of the tax proceeds are allocated to beach renourishment. This year’s beach renourishment project, scheduled to begin in July, is already funded, but future projects may be impacted.
The tax also partially funds tourism-related attractions such as the Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach piers.
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