Let’s Talk About Tourism
By Martin Owen
Don’t you just love tourists? Well, we probably should, as not only they do provide income directly for many of us here along the northern Gulf Coast, but also contribute a huge amount of taxes to our areas. More than that, whenever we travel to a new area, either on vacation or to visit friends and family, we take the role of tourists ourselves.
The first real tourists (as opposed to explorers, adventurers and other less desirable world wanderers!) were the children of wealthy families in Europe in the 1700s. To keep them out of trouble, and hopefully provide them with some classical education, they were sent off on what was termed The Grand Tour. This was an expedition through France, Switzerland and Italy gathering knowledge of how culture had developed. Some managed to extend the tour into Greece and the near east. Taking the Grand Tour made them tourists, and the term has stuck ever since.
The growth of the railways first in Europe and then in North America boosted the growth of Tourism massively. You may have heard of Thomas Cook who was one of the first tour operators, who started organizing trips in 1841. Walter T. Brow Nell became one of America’s first Travel Agents in 1887. In our part of the world, Henry Flagler brought the railways to Florida in 1883 and tourists have been flocking to the south east ever since. Airlines opened up both domestic and international tourism during the 50’s and 60’s and the rest, to use a cliché, is history.
These days Tourism is probably the world’s biggest industry contributing 7.6 trillion US dollars to the world’s economy in 2016. More locally, in Florida for example every 78 visitors support one job, and there are 1.4 million jobs in the Florida tourism industry! So, it’s fair to say that those tourists are contributing to our economy.
Looking even deeper and more locally, tourists contribute to our local taxes in surprising ways. For a start, you have probably heard of Tourists Development Tax, although most of us know it as Bed Tax. This is a tax paid by visitors only when they stay in short term accommodations. Florida and Alabama taxes are slightly different, and indeed even different counties have variations to the rates of tax and where the tax is collected. Some counties impose the tax across all accommodations, where others have a defined tax area. Tax is never simple! However, bed tax is commonly—certainly in Florida—used to promote tourism and takes that burden away from the resident population. There are strict rules about what the tax can be used for though, so a local county can’t just spend it on anything they like.
When tourists come to our area, or when we act as tourists ourselves, there is always the issue of sales tax. Tourists pay sales taxes just as the local residents do. So, the visitor is contributing to the local economy. In some counties, tourists contribute a third of the local sales tax, which is a considerable amount, and it helps locals to keep taxes lower.
Over the next few months, I’ll be bringing you news on how the travel and hospitality business is doing, news about changes and developments, and what you can look forward to, both, as a local and a tourist. If you have any questions or comments, please email me at [email protected]
ABOUT MARTIN OWEN: Martin Owen has been involved with travel and tourism his entire career. He has been a travel agent and tour operator, worked in travel technology and for airlines, was involved in a hotel in the Australian Outback and has run a tourism and hospitality consultancy company since 1996. He was Chair of the Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce, sat on the Okaloosa TDC and is a board member of the Northwest Florida chapter of the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association. He studied photography at a university and is a Fellow of both the Institute of Travel & Tourism and the Institute of Directors. www.owenorganization.com; www.facebook.com/OwenOrganization