A national hotel and lodging group says that Mississippi has lost more than $219 million in total state and local tax revenues as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, with much of that coming from taxes on lodging.
Since the outbreak began, Mississippi has lost $35.7 million in hotel and motel tax revenue, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA).
The amount represents a small portion of the $16.8 billion in tourism-related revenue losses across the country due to the virus.
The news comes weeks after the Sun reported that sales tax revenues were down hundreds of thousands of dollars on the year for the Jackson Convention Complex and Visit Jackson.
Both agencies are funded by a local sales tax added onto hotels and restaurants in the capital city.
Nationally, some of the hardest hit states include California, New York, Florida and Nevada, which have each lost more than a billion dollars in hotel tax revenues, according to AHLA.
Locally, Arkansas has lost $53.55 million in hotel tax revenue, Louisiana has lost $117.87 million and Tennessee has lost $227.76 million. Data for Alabama was not available.
Chip Rogers, AHLA president and CEO, said COVID’s impact on the travel industry has been nine times worse than the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
A chart showing state by state losses is shown below.
![Losses by State]()
