Final Hotel Room Taxes for fiscal year 2017 totaled $51,711,936. This information was contained in the draft estimates of revenue for fiscal year 2019.
The Hotel Room Tax is directly applied at a rate of ten per cent to the proceeds from letting out rooms at hotels comprising six or more rooms. This tax is not applied to any other revenue that hotels generate from ancillary services. Tourism Minister Randall Mitchell notes that these numbers signify that the accommodation sector generated $517,119,360 from room rentals in fiscal 2017, and that this is the fifth consecutive year that the sector has surpassed half a billion dollars in room rentals.
The current projected estimated revenues due for Hotel Room taxes for fiscal 2018 is $52.5 million.
According to Minister Mitchell, the tourism sector supports approximately 24,000 jobs directly and 60,000 jobs in total. Many of these jobs are at our nation’s accommodation providers. Additionally, according to Minister Mitchell, other spending by hotel guests on value added services also provides a valuable economic boost.
Recognizing the benefit of hotel room stays to the economy, the Ministry of Tourism looks forward to collaborating with its stakeholders in the accommodation sector and their representative associations, Trinidad Hotels Restaurants and Tourism Association and the Tobago Hoteliers and Tourism Association in working toward increased room rentals, occupancy rates and revenues. This would include both effective marketing and ever-ongoing efforts to provide outstanding experiences to our visitors.