Collections of room tax revenues from Clallam County hotels and motels soared more than 10 percent last year, while Jefferson County’s fell.
Could Twilight have something to do with Clallam’s?
The wildly popular teen book and movie craze certainly fueled record tourism on the West End in 2010.
“We broke a visitor record this year,” said Mike Gurling, Forks Visitor Center office manager.
Forks is where much of the “Twilight Saga” involving vampires, werewolves and a teenage girl is set.
Overall, Clallam County in 2010 collected $1,240,424 in so-called 10 percent “bed taxes” on hotel and motel room rents — a 10.86 percent increase over the 1,189.21 collected in 2009.
Jefferson County, which focuses on tourist attractions in Victorian Port Townsend, collected $613,668.17 in 2010 — a 6.16 percent decrease from the $653,921.26 collected in 2009.
Forks had the largest increase –12.36 percent, amounting to $150,092.36 collected in 2010 over $133,585.66 in 2009.
Gurling said the main reason is Twilight tourism.
“We had 73,000 people sign in at the visitor center,” he said. “That is over the 69,975 in 2009.”
The town of about 3,300 residents has been inundated with fans of Twilight since the first books shot to popularity in 2006.
Every year since, the hotel-motel tax has slowly grown as well because many fans stay overnight.
“I can say with confidence that most of the people we have in are because of Twilight,” Gurling said.
“Because school is back in, it has dropped off some, but about 95 percent of those who come in are here because of Twilight.”
The four books — Twilght, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn — and their eponymous movies tell a story of Forks teen Bella Swan and her vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen.
Although the movies were not filmed in Forks, the town has set up fictitious sites and attractions in recognition of the fans.
Gurling said he was not sure if the visitor trend will continue this year, but the first part of the final movie will be released in November and the last part released a year later.
“I don’t know if we are starting to feel conservative, but this is uncharted territory,” he said.
“It is a phenomenon, and it is one of those situations that is hard to describe or predict.”
Port Angeles also benefited from the tourism — the town is mentioned in the books and movies as a place the characters visit — noted Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Russ Veenema.
He added that many non-Twilight factors played a part in Port Angeles’ increase in revenues last year.
Port Angeles’ hotel and motel tax collections grew by 3.33 percent with $485,049 collected in 2010 — the second highest ever, Veenema said.
The most annual revenues were $487,134 in 2007, he said.
“There is no one thing causing it to be up,” he said.
“We had good weather in the summer and we also had the [Dungeness Crab and Seafood Festival] and other sporting events put on by the city — those things have helped us out.
“And certainly Twilight continues to play a part, though not as big as it has been.”
The growth also spurts from significant advertising in the Puget Sound region, Veenema said.
After a 12.63 percent room tax revenue decrease in 2009 from 2008, the city of Sequim increased collections 19.33 percent — or $179,932 in 2010 over $150,779 in 2009.
Vickie Maples, Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce executive director, could not be reached for comment Monday.
But last year she had expressed that she expected increased numbers after placing tourism commercials and print ads in Victoria.
In Jefferson County, room tax revenues collected decreased by about 6.16 percent — or $613,668 collected in 2010 and $653,921 in 2009.
Jennifer Wells MacGillonie, director of the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce, declined to comment, saying she hadn’t yet seen the numbers and didn’t have a pulse on why the slight downturn.
In the city of Port Townsend, collections decreased from $338,145 in 2009 to $322,154 in 2010 — 4.73 percent.
In unincorporated Jefferson County, the collections decreased from $315,777 in 2009 to $291,514 in 2010 — 7.68 percent.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladaily news.com.