BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
GREEN COVE SPRINGS— Clay County’s tourism director said the county set a new record in bed tax collections during the second quarter of 2021.
Kimberly Morgan told the Tourist Development Council that the county’s five percent tax on hotel stays through the first six months of 2021 equaled the entire year’s revenue for 2020.
“We’ve never collected that much in (tourism taxes),” she said. “Never.”
Morgan also said the pandemic caused the hotel stay pattern to change in the county.
“We used to be a weekend destination, pre-pandemic, and soft on the weekends,” she said. “That has completely shifted. “We are now soft during the week.”
“COVID has changed everything,” she continued. “People want a small-town destination. They don’t want to be in a big city with large crowds. They want to be outdoors.”
Morgan said that her office is considering a campaign to bolster weekday stays by encouraging local businesses to host associations, trade groups or other meetings in Clay County.
She said Clerk of Courts Tara Green did just that when she hosted 50 people from the Florida Clerks and Comptrollers Association for a meeting in Clay County.
“I think it was two-and-a-half days or three days here,” Morgan said. “They got to eat in our restaurants and experience Clay County.”
