Via a Monday press release, Leon County Government is reporting the tourist development tax collections for February 2026 reached $821,622, the highest February total in county history and a 24 percent increase over the same month last year. The record, reported by the Leon County Tax Collector\u2019s office earlier this month, caps a February in which visitors spent $19.6 million on hotel and short-term rental stays, also a February record.<\/p>\n
The tourist development tax is a 5 percent levy on short-term lodging that funds tourism marketing, cultural grants, sports event recruitment and visitor infrastructure. Such programs generated an estimated $1.43 billion\u00a0in local economic impact and supported more than 12,000\u00a0jobs last year. The revenue complements the County\u2019s broader economic development investments without drawing on property tax dollars.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecord collections aren\u2019t just a line on a spreadsheet; they represent real jobs, real paychecks and real investment flowing into Leon County because visitors are choosing to come here,\u201d Leon County Commission Chairman Christian Caban said. \u201cThat\u2019s economic development funded by visitors, not property taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the release, February collections have nearly tripled over the past decade, rising from roughly $331,000 in February 2015 to $821,622 this year. The month\u2019s record is part of a broader trajectory:\u00a0the County posted record annual tourist development tax collections in fiscal year 2025, with overall economic impact growing 8.4 percent and surpassing the County\u2019s five-year Bold Goal of $5 billion one year ahead of schedule.\u00a0Even the COVID-19 pandemic, which drove February 2021 collections down 45 percent, proved only a temporary setback \u2014 the County surpassed pre-pandemic levels by fiscal year 2022 and has posted year-over-year growth every year since.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis record is the direct result of the County\u2019s sustained investment in our tourism marketing and the nearly 120 local events we support through our grant programs each year,\u201d\u00a0Leon County Administrator Vincent S. Long said. \u201cWhen our tourism economy grows, every Leon County resident benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n
February\u2019s strong performance comes ahead of the spring season, typically among the strongest collection periods of the year, driven by legislative session visitors, Springtime Tallahassee and spring sporting events .<\/p>\n
\u201cFebruary\u2019s tax collections highlight the sustained appeal of Tallahassee-Leon County as a premier destination for travelers seeking unique experiences,\u201d said Kerri L. Post, director of Leon County Tourism. \u201cThese positive figures underscore the strength of our local tourism economy and the effectiveness of our collaborative marketing efforts to showcase the community\u2019s depth and charm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bed tax revenue funds programs that benefit residents and visitors alike. In the current grant cycle, the Tourist Development Council awarded $794,800 to support nearly 120 local special, legacy, art and cultural, and sporting events . The tax also funds tourism marketing through the Leon County Division of Tourism\/Visit Tallahassee and cultural programming through the Council on Culture and Arts. Last year, Leon County welcomed nearly 2.6 \u00a0million visitors who collectively supported more than 12,000 \u00a0local jobs.<\/p>\n
Tourist development tax reports are prepared monthly by the Leon County Tax Collector and reviewed by the Tourist Development Council. To learn more about the Leon County Division of Tourism, visit\u00a0VisitTallahassee.com<\/a>\u00a0or LeonCountyFL.gov\/Tourism. For more information, contact Mathieu Cavell, Leon County Community and Media Relations, at (850) 606-5300 or\u00a0CMR@LeonCountyFL.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Via a Monday press release, Leon County Government is reporting the tourist development tax collections for February 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-212793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}