Oconee County Tourism Director Says New $5 Hotel Fee Will Have Negative Impact On Travel In Georgia

Sen. Bill Cowsert told a small group of Oconee County Republicans last month that he was glad county Tourism Director Peggy Holcomb was not present as he gave his justification for adding $5 to the daily bills at hotels, bed and breakfast establishments, and motels around the state.

Cowsert knew how Holcomb felt about the transportation bill that Cowsert supported and the General Assembly passed late in this year’s session that added the $5 hotel fee and increased the gasoline tax in the state, effective July 1.

Holcomb told Cowsert in an email message she sent him on April 2 that the General Assembly did not look deeply enough “into the repercussions of this new hotel fee” and called this “most unfortunate.”

Holcomb said she was “deeply concerned and troubled about the many negative consequences of the $5 per night per hotel room fee on business, leisure, convention and group travel within and to Georgia.”

For more on this story, go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: Watkinsville hotel.