Resort tax collections for the autumn months of 2012 indicate Whitefish had its busiest shoulder season ever.

In September the city collected $207,734 from the 2 percent tax on lodging, restaurants and bars and luxury retail items. That’s up 40 percent from 2011, when $148,519 was collected.

October collections also were strong, up nearly 20 percent over 2011.

“This October was the highest October in history,” Whitefish City Manager Chuck Stearns noted in his latest manager’s report.

And November — always a quiet month in the resort town as it awaits ski season — also was busier than last year. Resort tax collections were up 5 percent in November 2012 over the same month in 2011.

“Something’s working,” said Jan Metzmaker, director of the Whitefish Convention and Visitor Bureau. “It builds when you’re all pulling on the same rope.”

Metzmaker said the state of Montana has stepped up its tourism marketing efforts, putting some $2 million into this winter’s campaign that largely includes the shoulder season.

“We try to divide [marketing] campaigns into the warm season and the cold season,” she said.

Scenes from Whitefish were used for the state’s winter campaign, with scenic images wrapped around buses and on three-story-tall banners in big cities such as Portland.

And there have been several opportunities for Whitefish to bask in the national limelight over the past year, ranging from a ranking by National Geographic Traveler magazine naming the Whitefish Winter Carnival one of the top 10 winter carnivals in the world to Native Eyewear picking Whitefish for a catalog shoot.

The reality TV show, “The Bachelor,” also filmed an episode in Whitefish in October.

All of that exposure of Whitefish on a national level helps solidify the idea in people’s minds that this is somewhere special to visit, Metzmaker said.

Local events such as the Oktoberfest, which spanned two weekends in October, also boosted fall visitor numbers.

Canadian visitors have bolstered Whitefish’s visitors numbers throughout the year and now account for 20 percent of all visitors to the town.

“It’s going well here,” Metzmaker said, noting visits to the bureau’s website were up 61 percent over 2011. “What we’ve learned is to not put all of our eggs in one basket.”  

For the first five months of Whitefish’s fiscal year that began July 1, 2012, the city’s resort tax collections are $82,429 ahead of the same five months in 2011.

City records show a very good 2012 overall.

Resort tax collections were up 3 percent in January, 8 percent in February, 7 percent in March and an impressive 21 percent in April, typically one of the slowest months of the shoulder season. May collections increased 40 percent and July collections were up 14 percent over July 2011.

Collections were down in June, when the Flathead Valley endured the wettest month on record.

August numbers were down 12 percent, but the numbers are a little misleading, according to city Finance Director Rich Knapp.

Several larger lodging businesses paid the tax for more than one month in August 2011, making that month the best ever for tax collections since the resort tax began 17 years ago. Then in August 2012, one larger lodging business and a couple of smaller lodging establishments didn’t submit their payments in time to be calculated for that month.

December numbers won’t be available until late January.

Since the tax began in February 1996, Whitefish has collected $21.6 million in resort tax.

Sixty-five percent of resort tax revenue is used for street reconstruction such as the recently completed multiphase rebuild of Central Avenue. Twenty-five percent of resort-tax revenue goes to property-tax rebates for city residents.

Five percent is used for parks and the remaining 5 percent for administration.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.