Eureka Springs voters decide to retain hospitality taxes, tourism commission

by Michael Tilley (mtilley@talkbusiness.net)

Eureka Springs will retain its hospitality tax revenue and its adverting and promotion commission after 71.2% of voters in the tourism-focused city rejected a citizen initiative to put an end to the tax and the commission.

The final tally, according to the Carroll County Clerk’s office, had 839 votes against Issue 3 – the measure to remove the tax – and 339 votes for.

“It was the Eureka Springs business community that realized that the lifeblood of Eureka Springs is tourism. Without tourism, and without the promotion of tourism … the town could not exist. This was the business community and a tourism workforce of almost 3,000 people saying they wanted to keep this thing alive,” Mike Maloney, tourism director of the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission, told Talk Business & Politics.

Eureka Springs voters decide to retain hospitality taxes, tourism commission