The news gets worse.
Canter blames the softening economy for the drop.
He is quick to add that the hotel industry has a direct impact on other industries as well. People who stay in hotels eat at local restaurants, shop at local stores, rent cars and take buses. It's not just hotels here that are feeling the pinch. According to Canter, legislators have been taking money from the Tourism Fund that was created last year and earmarking that money for local projects rather than putting it to marketing the state. That budget has been slashed in half.