News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cumberland County has seen a decrease in tourism with hotel motel tax revenue about $100,000 under the target.
Mayor Allen Foster said so far, $289,000 have been collected. That is about 43 percent of the budgeted amount after about seven months into the fiscal year.
“Absolutely, that is one of the things that we have lost the most income over would be our hotel motel tax,” Foster said. “People are just not traveling and staying in hotels as much as they use to be.”
Foster said the trend of declining tourism continues from the last fiscal year. In 2019, the county budgeted about $817,000 in revenue and missed the mark.
“So this year, we budgeted $668,166,” Foster said. “We revised that budget down quite a bit.”
This revenue is not earmarked and is usually spent in a number of ways to promote tourism. Foster said the county looks to the summer season to build up funds.
“We are always working on ways to promote Crossville and Cumberland County,” Foster said. “Our Visitor Center Bureau, which is an arm of the county, the city of Crossville and the chamber. We actually just opened a new website, explorecrossville.com, and that is a step. It is a one stop shop to find out what we have to offer here. That is something that we have done to be proactive.”
