Miami-Dade's Bed Tax Collection Takes Massive Hit As COVID-19 Hurts Hotel Occupancy
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Tourism is the bedrock of the Miami-Dade economy. But the coronavirus pandemic has really hurt hotel occupancy and the bed tax that comes with it.
CBS4's Hank Tester recently spoke with the president of the Greater Miami Hotel Motel Association for some perspective.
"I'm bummed out, we are all bummed out about the numbers," said Wendy Kallergis.
Miami-Dade collects a 6% bed tax that's used for debt service payments for a number of county obligations, from stadiums to homeless trust to tourism promotion.
"The occupancy is very low right now… even on the weekends," said Kallergis.
Just glance at the numbers, coronavirus hit hard in April. Tax collection went from almost $3.6 million in April of 2019 to $1.4 million in 2020. By May, 2020 was down to $365,000 from nearly $3.6 million. June of this year sat at $425,000 compared to $2.4 million in 2019.
Recently, the Clevelander Hotel shut down because of the coronavirus.
"I am concerned. I think that we are going to have some more closure and this is not good at all for the employees," Kallergis told Tester.
The same goes for hotel and motel owners as well as the overall economy.
"We have to get the numbers down to get the economy back," said Kallergis.
Curfews and restaurant restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 crisis continue to put a damper on hotel occupancy.