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Professionals in the tourism sector in the state of Massachusetts in the United States have long complained of receive insufficient funds compared to other destinations. According to the Boston Globe daily, $ 7.5 million will have been distributed last year to support local tourism marketing agencies. A figure far too low to reposition the destination Boston in the post-Covid era.
Especially since overnight stays in hotels in and around Boston generated more than $ 300 million in tax revenue before the crisis for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
But this manna has since dried up. Indeed with the Covid crisis, hotel occupancy rates in the metropolis have collapsed. From an average of 82% in 2019, this rate fell to 44.5% over the first eleven months of 2021.
As for the average price of an overnight stay, it is down 20% on average compared to 2019. An improvement in the situation of hotels is not expected until 2024 according to experts.
The “Tourism destination marketing district” at the genesis of the new tax
In August 2021, a new promotional entity called “Tourism destination marketing district”. It brings together all the tourist players in Boston and the neighboring city of Cambridge. The new entity received the right to collect a tax – called by local elected officials a “contribution”. Which is attributed directly to a promotion fund. The promoters of this tax estimate that it should generate some 40 million dollars annually.
For people staying in Boston as in Cambridge, the night in a hotel has therefore risen by 1.6% since October. It appears that another city will also follow the path chosen by Boston and Cambridge. The second most populous city in Massachusetts, Springfield, in fact also wants to form its “Tourism destination marketing district” entity. The new organization could become reality in the spring. And this also translates into a tax on hotel nights. The latter would in turn feed a local tourism promotion fund.
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