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Best February ever: Orange County tourism tax collections set new record

February 2022 checks in as top 3 month ever, Phil Diamond says

ORLANDO, Fla. – Orange County on Wednesday announced its latest revenue numbers, providing a look into how tourism fared during the early weeks of the pandemic and after the U.S. moved past the omicron surge of COVID-19.

In a news release, Comptroller Phil Diamond said that Tourist Development Tax (TDT) collections were $28,362,000 for February, an 173.9% increase over February 2021.

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The announcement showed a full rebound to pre-pandemic tourism in Central Florida.

February collections were $5.9 million higher than January and $255,800 higher than February 2020.

According to Diamond, the latest collections were the highest for the month of February and the third-highest monthly collections ever.

Orange County also reported a 73.7% occupancy rate for hotels, the second highest since the beginning of the pandemic.

As for TDT reserves, Diamond said there was a $5.9 million increase.

Since the start of the pandemic, the county has used $123.6 million of its reserves to meet obligations. The usage has caused undesignated reserves to decrease from $181.3 million to $57.7 million.