Hotel-generated state and local tax revenue will reach new heights nationally ($46.71 billion) and in states across the nation this year, according to state-by-state projections released by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and Oxford Economics.
Average U.S. hotel occupancy is projected to reach 63.8 percent in 2023–just shy of 2019’s level of 65.9 percent. Staffing is expected to remain a challenge for many U.S. hotels in 2023, as the industry continues to grow its workforce back to pre-pandemic levels.
“Hotels are making significant strides toward recovery, supporting millions of good-paying jobs and generating billions in state and local tax revenue in communities across the nation,” says AHLA president & CEO Chip Rogers. “To continue growing, we need to hire more people. Fortunately, there’s never been a better time to be a hotel employee, with wages, benefits, flexibility, and upward mobility better than ever before.”
Out of the 10 states projected to have the largest increase in revenue this year, three are in the South.
Florida is estimated to have roughly $4 million of hotel-generated state and local tax revenue this year, an increase of 23.5 percent, giving it the largest projected increase.
Texas is predicted to have about $2.75 million of tax revenue, while Maryland is expected to have 1.15 million, a 15.2 percent increase for both states.
According to a media release from AHLA, hotels are hiring across the nation to fill empty positions from the pandemic. As of December 2022, national average hotel wages were at historic highs of more than $23 per hour and hotel benefits and flexibility are stated to be better than ever. Nearly 100,000 hotel jobs are currently open across the nation, according to Indeed.
To help hotels fill open jobs and raise awareness of the hotel industry’s career pathways, the AHLA Foundation’s “A Place to Stay” multichannel advertising campaign is now active in 14 cities, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, and Tampa. For more info on the campaign, visit thehotelindustry.com.
The Southern states with the highest direct employment from hotels are Florida (194,825), Texas (146,619), Georgia (58,067), and North Carolina (49,454).
Southern destinations projected to be among the states with the highest hotel occupancy are Florida (70.5 percent) and the District of Columbia (68.70 percent)
