Year-to-date apples to apples comparison of the lodging taxes show the Gunflint Trail up significantly through August, the last month statistics were available. The Grand Marais and Schroder/Tofte/ Lutsen areas were down compared to 2019 over the same time period.
The months of May, June, July, and August were all record setting months for tax collections from the Gunflint Trail, which is 19.3 percent higher than last year through August.
With collections of $192,820.01 through August, the Grand Marais area was down 13.2 percent from last year compared to the same time period. That, of course, takes in the early spring months where most lodging was shut down because of the COVID-19 lockdown instituted by the state.
Although down 5.2 percent, Tofte/Lutsen/ Schroeder brought in $524,979.93 through the first eight months of 2020.
County wide, through August, lodging taxes are down 4.2 percent, but September and October have been strong tourism months for Cook County. At the end of the year, it will be interesting to see how much of a difference there will be between 2019 and 2020.
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