Tourism in Newport, RI, has record year aided by ‘Gilded Age’

30 November 2023

Newport County noticed file highs when it got here to resort tax income all through the final fiscal 12 months, however tourism specialists expect the leisure market to gradual subsequent 12 months.

Uncover Newport, the tourism bureau for Rhode Island hospitality heavyweight Newport County in addition to Bristol County, accepted the audit masking the group’s fiscal 2023, which resulted in June. The group is a quasi-governmental nonprofit established by state regulation to drive tourism to the 9 municipalities below its jurisdiction. It’s funded by state resort taxes, tourism charges and authorities grants and funding in addition to non-public income sources starting from promoting to occasion internet hosting to funding returns.

The income Uncover Newport collected from the state resort tax, the majority of the income the group receives, hit $5 million in FY23, a file excessive for the group. Whereas this was only a 2% improve from the earlier 12 months’s collections for Uncover Newport, Newport and Bristol County resorts generated 22% extra in complete state resort tax income by June 2023 in comparison with the earlier fiscal 12 months.

How effectively did Newport’s tourism business do that 12 months?

In FY19, simply previous to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Uncover Newport collected $3.5 million from resort mattress taxes, however this quantity would quickly plummet by 9% in FY20 and an additional 17% in FY21. The FY22 audit acknowledged the tourism business was starting to get better, and the group noticed resort tax revenues leap by 85%, regardless of two resorts being devastated by fires and one closing for renovations.

How did this growth occur? The audit identifies a number of causes, primarily will increase in each occupancy and common day by day room charge. Though the variety of resort rooms out there within the vacation spot remained the identical for FY23, occupancy hit 60.41%, and the common day by day room charge elevated to $236 per night time, which is 5% above the earlier 12 months.

In his letter introducing the FY23 audit report, Uncover Newport CEO Evan Smith additionally attributed the rise to the rebound of the worldwide, enterprise and cruise ship markets this 12 months and the continued pattern of individuals leaving metropolitan areas and cities for resort locations like mountains, lakes and coastal cities like Newport.

Moreover, the group’s web place elevated by $398,000, which the audit attributes to HBO’s “The Gilded Age,” components of that are filmed in Newport, suspending its launch to fall 2023, simply months after FY23 got here to a detailed. The audit states Uncover Newport will use these funds to promote for this system.

What do they spend this cash on?

Uncover Newport invested about $4.5 million in occasions like Newport Restaurant Week and Burger Bender in addition to seasonal campaigns for fall, spring, winter and for the vacations, focusing particularly on drawing in vacationers from “feeder” markets like Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Virginia, in line with the audit. The group additionally sponsored R.I. Public Transit Authority’s Line 67 bus route and several other occasions all through town of Newport, together with Newport Winter Competition, Christmas in Newport and the Ocean Race stopover in Newport.

Since Uncover Newport is devoted to advertising and marketing Newport and Bristol counties as a tourism vacation spot, 57% of the group’s bills for FY23 had been attributed to leisure and advertising and marketing, whereas one other 26% was attributed to gross sales and advertising and marketing. The audit states the group up to date its features “to be in line with business requirements set by Vacation spot Worldwide, which required Uncover Newport to reclass $162,000 of its promoting prices as a “gross sales and advertising and marketing,” which is why the class noticed a 40% improve from FY22.

Waiting for 2024

The audit lists a collection of priorities Uncover Newport has for 2024, which started in July. Just like the earlier fiscal 12 months, the group is hoping to spend money on promotion of the shoulder, or low season, because it states the summer season months are reaching most visitation capability. The group can be hoping to work with town of Newport, Division of Transportation and RIPTA to ascertain a shuttle service from public parking heaps to Newport’s downtown space.

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