Breckenridge Finds Bright Future After 2010 Lodging Tax

In 2010, Breckenridge Town Councilman Mike Dudick led a charge for a lodging tax increase to generate marketing money for the town of Breckenridge.  Some residents worried the funding wasn’t needed or the added cost might deter potential visitors, but in the throes of the recession, voters approved the tax hike.  Two years later, Breckenridge’s marketing pocketbook is approximately $1.2 million fatter, but is the town better off economically?While it is difficult to determine the return on investment of money spent to promote an entire town, rather than a single business, those who monitor the pulse of the local market say yes.

“I think the clearest indicator of the success of the increased marketing dollars is that lodging revenue in the town of Breckenridge has grown,” Dudick said. “All indicators are that we’re doing better than what we have in the past.”

As of October, short-term lodging sales tax revenue was up 6.2 percent year-to-date over 2011. Bookings for rooms in Breckenridge were tracking up 2 percent from last year for the month of December, even though occupancy at 16 other mountain resort destinations was down more than 12 percent for the same month, according to data released by the Mountain Travel Research Program at the end of November.  Sales tax numbers for the retail and restaurant industries also trended well this year.