Orange County commissioners direct tourism dollars to Camping World, Kia Center
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - The Orange County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to dole out some of the Tourism Development Tax (TDT) dollars. This is a discussion that’s been going on since March of last year.
The commissioners voted 6 to 1 to give Camping World Stadium $400 million and pay for upgrades at the Kia Center – formerly called Amway.
"I believe we have ended up in a good place," said Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings.
In other developments, Visit Orlando has to go through an audit and has to add a commissioner to its board. The tourism agency is having $15 million slashed from its budget – $10 million of that will go instead to the Sports Incentive Fund, and $5 million will be distributed to arts and cultural projects.
The money comes from a 6% tax visitors pay when they stay at hotels and other short-term rentals. However, because the total amount brought in each year varies on the number of tourists coming in and how long they choose to stay, it makes it hard to predict how much money can be doled out for years to come.
That’s part of why some public speakers warned about changing the amount of investment in Visit Orlando. They feared cutting funds to the agency that brings tourists in could mean we make less in tourism dollars.
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Chris Jaskiewics, the CEO of Icon Park, was one of them.
"Hundreds of millions go to schools, fire departments, library systems, and LYNX. Why put these Orange County services at risk?" said Jaskiewicz.
The other side of the argument, as public speaker Dr. Kelly Semrad brought up, is that the County needs to invest in the things that make people willing to visit.
"Unless we keep Orlando an attractive destination for tourists to come to, we will lose our tourism," said Dr. Semrad, who has a Ph.D. in Hospitality.
As for Visit Orlando itself, the CEO, Casandra Matej, says the $15 million cut will not lead to layoffs.
"Of course, cuts can have an impact," said Matej. "We’re going to have to look at our frequency of how we market. Do we need to look at all the markets we’re in and maybe pull back a little bit?"
The last TDT update from the meeting: The County is holding off on funding for Dr. Philips Center for the Performing Arts.
"We did not think their proposal was ready. It wasn’t a no – but they need to do a study and then come back," explained Mayor Demings.