Hamilton County hotel room tax collections were down about 30% in 2020 from 2019 levels, abruptly ending a steady streak of growth for a tourism scene that was attracting about $3 million a day in visitor spending before the pandemic struck.
“Obviously it’s been devastating,” said Barry White, president of the Chattanooga Tourism Company, which gets about 90% of its funding from the Hamilton County portion of the room tax.
Recovery will take time, and will be dependent on the effective rollout of vaccines, White said. In 2021, the Chattanooga Tourism Company is projecting a budget about 17% below 2019 levels, he added.
“We anticipate spring break will outperform last year’s spring break,” he said. “It will not, however, be at 2019 levels. It will be several years – estimates are 2023 – before hotels operate at a 2019 level at the earliest.”
As hard as the local hospitality industry was hit, though, Chattanooga fared better than some markets. Nashville area room tax collections fell 93% in April, and are were still down 67% in November 2020. In Memphis, collections fell 81% in April and were still down 45% in November, according to state data.