Agenda items at the Tourist Commission meeting Tuesday evening, June 28 were routine as Director Arlene Gould discussed financials and visitor numbers. The Hotel and Motel Tax Collections for May were $38,647. With administrative fees at $1,159, the net was $37,487. This is 15 percent above last year’s collections and $6,221 over the projected budget of $31,266. Net collections for the year to date are $150,936, which is 8.8 percent over for the fiscal year.

The P&L Report for May showed a total income of $55,160 with expenses at $37,030 for a net income of $18,130. Gould said the office’s expenses were right in line with what was budgeted for the month. Year to date, the office is $12,611 below budget for its income with $183,375 spent of the $188,499 budgeted amount. Gould said they’re trying to control expenses since the income isn’t there.

There were 492 visitors from Louisiana in May, 270 from Texas, 81 international visitors and 301 from other states. The year to date visitor total is 4,370. The plantations received 3,471 visitors, which included a lot of school groups. The Fort had 1,897 visitors, the museum had 1,297, the Grand Ecore Visitors Center had 801 and the Fish Hatchery had 355.