The tourist development tax or TDT, is a tax collected on rentals in the area, and this past March, it brought in a record $38 million dollars.
Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond says that’s the highest monthly collection in the history of the TDT and is an indicator of just how strong Orlando’s tourism economy is right now.
But Diamond says many factors, including rising COVID cases, might cause those dollars to fluctuate in the coming months.
“That’s going to depend on COVID. That’s going to depend on the economy, that’s going to depend on everything else that we hear about.”
Diamond says that's why he's advocated for a number of smart investing measures, just in case.
“We need to make sure that we keep in mind that things are going to go up. Things are going to go down. And we need to plan for the long term. And I’ve advocated increasing our reserves. I’ve advocated making sure that our collections get to a certain level before there’s any kind of additional commitments.”
March also saw the highest passenger travel in a single month at Orlando International Airport and about 82.5 percent of local hotels and lodging fully booked.
