Orange County Cities See Hotel Taxes Rebound as Visitors Increase

The Epoch Times – March 10, 2022

Some Orange County cities are reporting higher than expected tax revenue from hotels this year, following an increase in visitors as pandemic restrictions ease.

During a March 8 Costa Mesa City Council meeting, Finance Director Carol Molina said that the city is on track to receive $1.1 million more in hotel tax revenue than last June’s projection for the Fiscal Year 2021-2022.

The city previously expected to receive $5.6 million in transient occupancy tax—or hotel tax—which is now projected to be $6.7 million.

While the number of visitors and tax revenue increased, it is not full recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic yet, Molina said.

“[While] higher than we had anticipated … this revenue stream is just not yet back to pre-pandemic levels,” she said. “The city’s prior pandemic amounts hovered around 8 to 8.5 million dollars a year, so we’re not quite there yet.”

Other Orange County cities are seeing growth in hotel tax revenues as well.