Bed tax receipts increased for Northwest Montana last year, even though visitation was down 5.15 percent in Glacier National Park.

Hotels in the eight northwest counties in Montana's Glacier Country travel region produced an 8 percent increase in bed tax receipts for the months of July through September and a 7 percent increase during the entire year.

Glacier Country executive director Linda Anderson said anecdotal reports from businesses around Glacier indicated that park visitation dwindled at the end of summer and into the fall. Higher gas prices and even hurricanes in Gulf Coast states were thought to have influenced the decline, Anderson said.

"It really hit at the end of August," she said. "What we heard from many of the campgrounds and hoteliers was that business just disappeared and they didn't see nearly as much fall business as they usually do."

So how to explain the increase in bed tax revenue for the Glacier region? Anderson said it can be attributed to several influences: "Part of that is people came and they stayed longer, which has always been one of our goals. It can also be tied to the rates that are being charged."

The 7 percent bed tax is applied to room rates, so higher rates would produce higher tax receipts.

Another possible influence, Anderson said, is that Northwest Montana visitors did more things, visiting Glacier but also other attractions in the region.

The National Park Service said Glacier National Park had 1,937,042 visitors in 2005, down 5.15 percent from the 2,042,314 visitors in 2004.

Group camping dropped 26 percent for the year, and there was an unusual 35 percent visitation decline at the Two Medicine entrance station. Most other park entrance stations had declines ranging from 4 to 8 percent.

The exceptions were two of the park's more remote, alternate entrances: Visitation was up 7 percent at the northern Goat Haunt entrance and at the western Camas Creek entrance.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at [email protected]