Portland Increases Hotel Tax to Spur Tourism

The Portland City Council approved Wednesday a 2% increase to its hotel tax to help improve tourism.

The council voted unanimously to create a Tourism Improvement District, which will raise the tax on all hotels in the city with 50 or more rooms.

The tax will be in addition to a 1% tax already assessed to go towards the city's nonprofit tourism agency, Travel Portland. The hotel tax is already 11.5% in Multnomah County.

The new fee will raise an estimated $6.6 million annually, the Portland Business Journal reported. In 2010, the Portland metro area saw an influx of 7.8 million visitors, generating $3.8 billion of spending and $58 million in local tax revenues, according to Portland Travel, citing Dean Runyan Associates.

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Oregon
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