Carbon County is on track to have a banner year for tourism.

Last week, county treasurer Ron Sheehan updated the board of commissioners on the hotel tax. The county approved a line item of $488,709.92 from the collections of the second quarter to be sent to Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau. The bureau then uses that money to promote tourism in the county.

Sheehan said that of those funds, Carbon was able to keep just under $20,000 for administrative purposes.

He pointed out that for the first half of 2021, hotel tax collections amounted to $910,468.56, up from $445,177 for the same time period in 2020.

“The third quarter is historically the largest quarter that we collect,” Sheehan said.

Last year, Carbon County collected $1.328 million for the hotel tax, even with the pandemic crippling travel; and Sheehan said that he is expecting the county to far exceed that this year.

He cited short-term rental increases due to the pandemic as reasons for the increases.

“The hotel tax collections are soaring,” he said.