Branson’s move follows similar action from other American cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia whose representatives also claim travel websites have failed to pass on the money customers were charged for local tourism taxes. The Philadelphia and Atlanta suits have since been dismissed however according to The Interactive Travel Services Association.
Branson first introduced a tourism tax in 1997, calculated on the gross funds aquired from hotel room rentals. In 2006, Branson collected $6.6 million in tourism tax, of which 75% will go towards improving the town’s infrastructure and 25% toward marketing Branson as a tourist destination.
As well as Travelocity and Expedia, Internet travel specialists Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Orbitz.com and Travelnow.com are also included in the lawsuit.
Branson’s public administrator, Terry Dody, says it is unclear exactly how much money is unaccounted for, but estimates the amount to be “substantial.”
“It’s almost impossible to put our arms around it, because we are not sure how many bookings (there were),” Dody told the Springfield News-Leader. “Over the years, you can imagine what it adds up to.”
Art Sackler, executive director of the Interactive Travel Services Association, has since sprung to the defence of the travel websites, describing them simply as brokers who collect reservation money, minus a service fee, to pass on to local hotels.
“The companies send back to the hotel whatever the negotiated room rate is plus the applicable tax,” Sackler said. “It’s the hotel’s responsibility to send the taxes on to the city or the county.”
Branson, Expedia, Missouri, Tourism, Travelocity