The tourism industry in Santa Barbara—or at least the lodging portion of it—is on the upswing with more than $1.4 million collected through the city's Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) in April. That's a 23 percent increase from the same period last year.
Santa Barbara's fiscal calendar ends in June, and so far the TOT is on target to exceed growth of more than 10 percent, year-over-year.
So far the city has collected more than $13.6 million for the fiscal year.