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Washington County sees 75% spike in tourism revenue: What this means for Greater Zion

Due to the spike in 2021, Greater Zion has a $13.5 million budget for 2022.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Mornings in Springdale, just outside the entrance to Zion National Park are a flurry of activity as hikers rush to board city shuttles to take them into the park, Sept. 26, 2021. Springdale, population 529, sees about 16,000 tourists a day.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Mornings in Springdale, just outside the entrance to Zion National Park are a flurry of activity as hikers rush to board city shuttles to take them into the park, Sept. 26, 2021. Springdale, population 529, sees about 16,000 tourists a day.

By  Stephanie DeGraw | St. George News
 | March 21, 2022, 6:00 a.m.

Money from temporary visitor lodging, known as transient room tax, rose over 75% in Washington County between 2020 and 2021. And this unusual uptick gave the Greater Zion Tourism Convention and Tourism Office an unexpected increase in its budget in 2021.

“In 2021, we exceeded our transient room tax revenue,” Brittany McMichael, assistant director for Greater Zion Tourism, said. “We were anticipating that we would collect just over 8 to 9 million dollars. We ended up collecting over 15 million dollars.”

It was a surprise for the organization since the pandemic had caused a sudden drop in revenue. In 2020, $8,719,437 was collected in transit room tax. In 2021, $15,293,148 was collected, which was a 75.3% increase from 2020, McMichael said.

The transient room tax collected by hotels is directly from visitors. The hotels then remit those taxes to the state and the state sends that money back to the county.

To read more, visit St. George News.

This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.

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By Stephanie DeGraw | St. George News