Seminole County leaders discuss sports tourism district

Seminole County is looking to lure more people to the area for sports tourism.

WATCH CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS

Leaders discussed creating a tourism improvement district.

The county meeting on Tuesday is a big step toward creating a new rule or ordinance to attract more sports tourism to the area.

This would be a way to raise money specifically for sports tourism instead of using regular tax dollars.

Read: More details on Seminole County’s proposed tourism tax revealed

The county is working on the details of the new rule, which will need approval from the county’s hotels.

It’s like a special tax zone for hotels. They would pay a little extra, which would go towards sports tourism projects that could help the county’s economy.

This is similar to Seminole County’s tourist tax but focused on hotels and sports tourism.

Read: Seminole County to push first-of-its-kind tourism tax this month

But this Tourism Improvement District wouldn’t tax county residents. Instead, hotels would charge visitors to stay in their rooms.

The commissioners will vote to give the hotels and tourism officials the go-ahead to create this tourism improvement district. Then, it will be up to the hotels and tourism officials to decide how they want to create the special district.

Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.