PORT ANGELES — This year could be this town’s best ever for the second-place winner in the national “Best Town Ever” contest.
Perhaps buoyed by its publicity in Outside magazine’s online contest — which it lost to much larger Chattanooga, Tenn. — the city’s take from motel taxes already is almost $41,000 ahead of 2014 figures.
Percentage-wise, that’s a 19 percent increase over last year — which already was a record — and that reflects only business activity through June.
Every month but January, March and May marked big increases in tax revenues, according to Russ Veenema, executive director of the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The $263,092 room tax total to date is far ahead of the chamber’s goal of $224,000 for this time this year.
As for room occupancy figures, the totals were available through August.
The comparative figures for last year, this year, and the percentage difference in terms of rooms occupied:
■ January — 5,942/5,502: -7 percent.
■ February — 5,765/6,361: +10 percent.
■ March — 8,804/8,583: -3 percent.
■ April — 10,011/11,715: +17 percent (when the oil rig Polar Pioneer moored in Port Angeles Harbor).
■ May — 14,502/16,287: +9 percent.
■ June — 16,401/17,892: +9 percent.
■ July — 18,928/19,368: +2 percent.
■ August — 20,029/19,809: -1 percent.
Room occupancy rates varied seasonally, rising steadily from 25 percent in January to 90 percent in August.
Although room tax collections dropped slightly in May, occupancy soared that month, according to figures from the Washington Department of Revenue.
Sales tax collections within the city of Port Angeles also are up by about 19 percent through August at a total of $2,134,601.
Meanwhile, people visiting the Port Angeles Visitor Center shot to 78,695 compared to 68,332 this time last year, a gain of 13 percent. Visits to the www.portangeles.org website climbed to 262,672 from 248,296, a gain of 9 percent.
“Based on what we have collected for July and August, the record revenue should continue,” Veenema said.
“Our social media activity also has seen an increase of 28 percent with 2,416 people now listed as Facebook friends.”
