Taxes collected from stays at Montana campgrounds, motels, and hotels last year exceeded expectations, a recent finding shows.
The finding was presented on Wednesday at an economic seminar organized by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research, a report said.
Jeremy Sage, interim director for the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana, said the bed tax was more than anticipated in the summer and spring of 2021 compared with the tax in 2019.
“We are sitting this last summer at 23% higher than we would have been if we had just continued at pre-pandemic expectations. We are sitting at 34% higher in the spring quarter in 2021 compared to what we would’ve thought we would have been.”
He also said that the number of tourists visiting Glacier and Yellowstone national parks could have driven this growth. For the 2nd quarter of 2021, the counties in the vicinity of Glacier witnessed more than a 200% increase in bed tax collections compared to 2019. The counties around Yellowstone experienced an almost 300% increase during the same time frame.
The Montana Legislature raised the bed tax by one percent to 4% in 2020.
