Up, but barely.
In and about town, the Ole Seagull hears much talk about how bad Branson is doing in 2024. One person tells him that restaurants are having a bad year, while someone else says it’s challenging for shows, etc. He decided to get the facts to see whether or not Branson is up or down for 2024. To him, the most accurate tool to tell whether or not Branson is up or down is a comparison of the City of Branson Tourism Tax receipts for the same period of time in 2024 to 2023.
“But Seagull, what about city Sales Tax receipts or the Tourism Community Enhancement District (TCED) receipts?” “Those taxes are retail sales taxes paid by local residents in addition to tourists and apply, in the majority, to items other than those taxed by the City of Branson Tourism Tax.” The city’s Tourism Tax ONLY applies to tourism-related businesses such as amusement parks, theatres, hotels and motels, campgrounds, nightly rentals, and restaurants and concessions.
According to information from the city of Branson, its Tourism Tax receipts for January through June were up 2.3% over the same period in 2023. Tourism Tax receipts for 2024 during that period are $6,542,285.34 vs $6,490,156.27 in 2023. The TCED Tourism Tax Receipts for the period January through June 2024 were $4,056,227 vs $3,840,181 or 5.63% or over twice as much as the increase in the receipt from the city of Branson’s Tourism Tax but, in the majority it taxes items outside of those directly related to tourism.
The 2.3% increase in the City of Branson Tourism Tax receipts for the period January through June is based on the total tax receipts from amusements, theatres, hotels and motels, campgrounds, nightly rentals, and restaurants and concessions during the period. An analysis by category indicates that campgrounds had the largest increase during the period, 39.4%, while theatres were down with -5.8%. Amusements were up 3.8%, hotels and motels 4.3%, nightly rentals 5.1% and restaurants and concessions 3.3%.
“So, Branson is having an ok year?” “Yes, but certainly not a great year.”
During the same period in 2023, the City of Branson Tourism Tax receipts were up 14.3 % over 2022.” Branson’s 2024 Tourism Tax increase of 2.3% and an Annual Inflation Rate for the United States during that same period of 3.0%#1 indicate, to an Ole Seagull, that Branson is not having either a “bad”’ or “good” year, just an “ok” year.
#1 Although close, different sources had different numbers. Went with the lowest.
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