12/27/2023 0 Comments Orlando sentinel subscription $10![]() ![]() The group, led by a former Disney executive, spends most of its budget on advertising, according to financial records.Ī Milwaukee-based firm is its biggest contractor at $14.3 million, up from $13.4 million a year before, according to the group’s tax filings. Visit Orlando received $66 million this year in tourist tax money, up from $56 million in 2018. They can remain invisible at a tourist attraction, but they must reside in the community and, as residents, they are not invisible.”Īfter payments for the Orange County Convention Center and venues like Orlando’s NBA arena, the biggest slice of Orange County’s tourist tax goes to Visit Orlando, a nonprofit group overseen by a board of tourism executives that markets vacations and business meetings here. “Many of these workers are not highly paid. “A large number of tourist industry employees remain out of sight, occupied as kitchen help, chambermaids, maintenance workers, janitors, watchmen and the like,” said the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council in 1972. It’s been nearly 50 years since a local government planning group issued a prophetic warning soon after the opening of Disney’s Magic Kingdom. The type of deal Universal struck with the county this week to dedicate land for housing is rare among local theme parks and a first for the theme park company buoyed in recent years by its successful Harry Potter lands.īut the challenges that come with a workforce concentrated with low-wage and low-skill jobs were predicted long ago. Tourism leaders say the hotel tax money is needed to support the industry and the 280,000 jobs it provides along with hundreds of millions of dollars Disney, Universal, SeaWorld and other attractions pump into the area in the form of property taxes and other fees. SeaWorld and the Central Florida Hotel & Lodging Association declined to comment for this story. He said the company spent “months” on the housing component and that there were “a number of people that had to convince that this was the right thing to do for this community.” Universal CEO John Sprouls provided few details about the project at a press conference. Just one day before it won the money for the road, the theme park company said it would donate 20 acres of land to build affordable housing and an undefined mass transit hub after facing opposition from people who live nearby and union leaders. Universal Orlando, meanwhile, just secured $125 million for a road that will benefit its upcoming park and is seeking $350 million in state corporate tax breaks over three decades in exchange for building a new theme park and hotel design headquarters in Central Florida. That agreement - and a pledge from the county to help build a road to Universal Orlando’s newest theme park - are the latest signs of the influence tourism leaders hold in Central Florida even as the industry’s tens of thousands of low-paying jobs intensify pressure in the region caused by an affordable housing crisis and a chronically underfunded public transit system.ĭisney, for example, was the biggest political spender in the state last year, contributing $28.3 million to candidates and committees across Florida, spending the company says is necessary to weigh in on issues that might affect its 77,000 local employees. That amount has increased every year for the past six years and is more than triple the next highest county, Broward in South Florida, which brings in about $80 million, according to the Florida Department of Revenue.Ī deal this fall between county leaders and tourism executives will continue to grow the amount of public dollars used to advertise theme parks and other attractions to an estimated $100 million a year by 2023. ![]() In Orange County, the hotel tax brings in more money - a record $277 million last year - than anywhere else in the state and remains closely guarded by the industry. “It was not easy,” said the Republican House member from Palm Bay. Ultimately, Fine’s bill passed in 2018, but with limits pushed by lobbyists representing Orlando tourism executives that continue to restrict how and when local governments can use the tax for projects outside of vacation promotions and big venues like sports stadiums. ![]()
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