By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
When Bowling Green increased its hotel/motel tax by 1 percent last year, there were a few reservations that the bump could discourage visitors from lodging here.
But statistics presented to Bowling Green City Council last week showed that the number of hotel guests in the city keeps climbing.
Wendy Chambers, executive director of the Bowling Green Convention and Visitors Bureau, reported to council on the success of attracting more events to the city. And that helps fill up hotels, restaurants and shops.
Downtown BG Director Tony Vetter, Todd McGee of Best Western, and Christopher Miller of Holiday Inn Express shared hotel stats with council.
Between 2012 and 2018, hotels in the city saw an annual increase of about 20,000 rooms rented. Last year, the rooms rented reached 100,000 – an 18.4 percent increase since 2012.
“We’re predicting that to be a little higher this year,” McGee said.
During that same period of 2012 to 2018, the hotel room revenue grew from just under $6 million to just shy of $9 million last year.
That is an increase of nearly 33 percent for room revenue over seven years, Vetter said.
“That’s a huge increase,” he said.
The statistics show that visitors to Bowling Green weren’t put off by the 1 percent increase in the hotel/motel tax last year, Vetter said.
“The bed tax actually increased revenue,” he said.
The bed tax is used by Chambers at the CVB to promote Bowling Green as a place for people to visit and groups to hold events. The city currently has about 600 hotel rooms.
Prior to the 1 percent tax being added, the city already had a 3 percent hotel/motel tax, with the CVB getting 60 percent of that tax revenue and the city getting 40 percent.
The hotel tax increase had the support of all the hotels owners in the city, according to Todd McGee. The tax is paid by visitors to local hotels and motels, and has no impact on city residents, he said.
Bowling Green is a big destination for sporting events, with regional youth athletics and BGSU sports filling up local hotels, McGee said last year to council. Events such as the Black Swamp Arts Festival, National Tractor Pulling Championships, and concerts also draw overnight guests to the city. But weekday business is lacking.
Hotels are the concierge for Bowling Green, McGee said. They send guests out into the city with recommendations of restaurants to dine in and shops to visit.
But to be competitive with other destinations, Bowling Green needs to keep attracting more sports tournaments, conventions, tours and other events.
“Our goal is to continue growing Bowling Green tourism by taking this to the next level,” McGee said last year. “We have to keep driving that stuff to Bowling Green.”
That means sending Chambers out to more events where she meets face-to-face with groups scheduling tours, conventions or tournaments.The process was described as “speed dating for businesses.”
The next big tourist event coming to Bowling Green is the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure, which will bring hundreds of cyclists to the city on June 15. The week-long bicycle ride will start in Bowling Green on June 16 and end back here the following Saturday.
As an opening event for GOBA, a bicycle parade will be held June 15 around 5 p.m., Chambers said. Cyclists camping at the Wood County Fairgrounds will parade to the Wooster Green, where there will be food trucks, music and a BMX demonstration. The public is welcome to attend.
