Sister Bay, Jacksonport Continue to Lead Room Tax Gains in July

The Village of Sister Bay continues to make the largest gains in room tax revenue compared to collections in 2016, according to the July room tax report from the Door County Tourism Zone Commission. Sister Bay is quickly approaching Gibraltar as the top municipality for room tax collections in the summer.

Sister Bay has collected 13.27 percent more room tax dollars through July of this year when compared to the same time period last year. In the month of July, the village made an eight percent gain compared to the same month last year. Sister Bay also had the highest occupancy rate of any municipality in July, with 84.55 percent of its rooms filled.

Jacksonport has also made consistent gains through 2017, with 9.81 percent increase year to date from 2016. But growth slowed in July, with an increase of just 4.2 percent compared to July in 2016.

The City of Sturgeon Bay has made minimal gains in room tax collection compared to last year, with just 0.19 percent increase through this year when compared to 2016. The city had a two percent increase in the month of July compared to the same month last year.

Other communities making gains in room tax collections are Baileys Harbor (8.7 percent), Liberty Grove (7.2 percent) and the Town of Egg Harbor (5.79 percent).

Total room tax collections in the county amounted to $2.2 million. That equates to $667,466 split up among the contributing municipalities and $1.5 million for the Door County Visitor Bureau.

Other interesting data from the July report include:

• Nasewaupee was the only municipality that has collected significantly fewer room tax dollars when compared to last year, a decline of 2.3 percent. Clay Banks and the Town of Forestville were also in the red, but only by $93 and $105 respectively.
• Sevastopol had the most expensive rooms at an average price of $233 per room. Sevastopol had an occupancy rate of 78.23 percent. The cheapest rooms in the county in July were on Washington Island, with an average of $116.
• Between March, the slowest month for lodging, and July, average room rates in the Town of Egg Harbor increased 211 percent, from $54 to $168. Almost all average room rates north of Sturgeon Bay increased by more than 100 percent in the same time period.