Four Florida cities—Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, West Palm Beach, and Orlando—topped the Global Travel Business Association’s annual list of the lowest travel taxes among 50 U.S. cities. This annual list, which includes car rental, hotel, and meal taxes, also identified the destinations with the highest travel taxes.
“Overly burdensome taxes on business travel can often do more harm than good, especially when those taxes unfairly target visitors,” said Joseph Bates, GBTA Foundation vice president of research. “If spending one night in Chicago is 81 percent more expensive than visiting Ft. Lauderdale, for example, it can have an effect on where businesses decide to meet.”
That's what happened to Koleen Roach, director, meetings and conference management, at Securian Financial Group, St. Paul, Minn., who says travel taxes are "very important to the final selection process." She cites the example of an internal client who just chose a site for a February 2013 program beacuse the destination had the lowest overall taxes and the hotel had the lowest fees and services charges.
So, which 10 cities have the highest and the lowest travel taxes? (The dollar amount shown is per-day, and includes a combination of general and discriminatory taxes targeted at travelers or travel-related areas that are in addition to the general sales tax.)
The U.S. cities with the lowest travel taxes
1. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.$22.21
2. Fort Myers, Fla.$22.21
3. West Palm Beach, Fla.$22.21
4. Detroit$22.37
5. Portland, Ore.$22.45
6. Orange County, Calif.$22.79
7. Burbank, Calif.$23.74
8. Ontario, Calif.$24.08
9. Honolulu $24.38
10. Orlando, Fla. $24.50
The U.S. cities with the highest travel taxes
1. Chicago $40.31
2. New York $37.98
3. Boston $34.83
4. Kansas City, Mo.$34.58
5. Seattle$34.43
6. Minneapolis$34.32
7. Cleveland$34.22
8. Indianapolis$34.19
9. Nashville, Tenn.$34.13
10. Houston $33.51
To purchase a copy of the full report, non-GBTA members can contact pyachnes@gbtafoundation.org.