The Vermont Tourism Alliance seeks to advance policies that support the promotion of Vermont as a visitor destination and help sustain and grow the broad array of businesses that contribute to Vermont’s visitor economy. This important sector generates 9% of Vermont’s GDP, $4.2 billion in visitor spending, and $293.5 million in state and local taxes; and supports more than 30,000 jobs (more than 10% of Vermont’s total workforce).
Find the state and local legislators who represent your district so you can stay informed on tourism related policies.
2026
During the 2026 legislative session, the Vermont General Assembly addressed several key issues affecting the hospitality, outdoor recreation, and lodging sectors.
Tourism Economy Day: Tourism Economy Day brought together business leaders, legislators, and administration officials, creating space for direct conversation between policymakers and the employers who power Vermont’s visitor economy. Industry voices from across the state shared perspectives rooted in their day-to-day operations and community impact.
The primary tourism-related bills and legislative updates for 2026 include:
Passed Legislation
Defeated Legislation
How Your Local Representatives Voted on Tourism & Lodging Taxes
Because the proposed statewide 2% lodging and meals tax surcharges were defeated in committees and stripped out before a full roll-call floor vote, there is no single "yes" or "no" list for individual state legislators on those exact items.
Tourism Economy Day: Tourism Economy Day brought together business leaders, legislators, and administration officials, creating space for direct conversation between policymakers and the employers who power Vermont’s visitor economy. Industry voices from across the state shared perspectives rooted in their day-to-day operations and community impact.
The primary tourism-related bills and legislative updates for 2026 include:
Passed Legislation
- S.327/Act 128 (Economic Development Omnibus Bill): Vermont Act 128 (S.327), effective June 8, 2026, directs the Commissioner of Economic Development to study ways to support Vermont business growth and adjusts membership of the Convention Center and Performance Venue Task Force. It supports workforce development in hospitality and culinary fields, requiring the Vermont Department of Labor to study and report on how best to develop postsecondary education for culinary arts and hospitality and develop a two-year hospitality and culinary apprenticeship training program pilot to include multiple employers and include structured work-based learning. It also includes two consumer/business provisions: businesses may now round cash transactions to the nearest nickel (with taxes calculated on the pre-rounded amount), and municipalities can establish C-PACE districts letting commercial property owners finance energy, water, and resilience upgrades through a voluntary property-tax assessment. [1]
- Rural Infrastructure Expansion: It injects new power into the Rural Industry Development Program (RIDP). This assists rural regions in preparing infrastructure and commercial spaces for incoming businesses.
- Commercial Clean Energy Framework: S.327 establishes a statewide framework for Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE). This allows local municipalities to set up financing districts so businesses can more easily secure private capital for energy-efficiency or green renovations. [1]
- Workforce & Industry Studies: The final text greenlights several studies to map out solutions to the ongoing workforce shortages that are limiting the local hospitality sector. [1]
- Cash Rounding Flexibility: A minor but practical technical addition allows merchants to round cash transactions up or down to the nearest five cents, provided notice is clearly displayed for consumers. [1]
- S. 278/Act 176 (Cannabis Hospitality Pilot): While primarily a cannabis bill, this legislation introduces a pilot program allowing licensed retailers to sponsor public events like farmers' markets, where travelers and locals can buy directly from local cultivators, creating new agritourism drawcards. [1]
Defeated Legislation
- Proposals to Increase Room & Meals Tax The hospitality sector, heavily represented by advocacy groups like the Lake Champlain Chamber and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, successfully lobbied to kill several proposed Rooms and Meals tax hikes that they argued would damage Vermont’s tourism competitiveness:
- The 2% Lodging Surcharge: A proposed 2% tax bump on short-term rentals and hotels intended to fund affordable housing was defeated following intense pushback from the tourism industry.
How Your Local Representatives Voted on Tourism & Lodging Taxes
Because the proposed statewide 2% lodging and meals tax surcharges were defeated in committees and stripped out before a full roll-call floor vote, there is no single "yes" or "no" list for individual state legislators on those exact items.
- Municipal Local Option Taxes Instead of a state mandate, 20 different Vermont communities voted locally on whether to enact their own 1% Local Option Taxes on rooms, meals, alcohol, and sales to pay for things like town bridges and local infrastructure. [1]
- Mixed Results: Tourism-heavy hubs like Stowe, Bolton, Morristown, and Swanton successfully approved these measures to shift the infrastructure burden onto out-of-state visitors. Other towns outright rejected them. [1, 2]
- Burlington Surcharge: In a separate localized development, the Burlington City Council voted to make their temporary 2.5% municipal tax on hotels, short-term rentals, meals, and alcohol permanent starting this fiscal year. [1]
2027
It’s an Election Year: More than 30 legislators resigned or decided not to run for reelection, including the Senate President Pro Tem, Speaker of the House and several committee chairs. This means that both the House and Senate will have new leadership for the next biennium, along with several key committees including the Senate Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs and the House Commerce Committees.
The Vermont General Assembly runs on a two-year biennial cycle, so any bills that did not advance at the end of the 2026 session do not carry over to 2027. Lawmakers must introduce brand new legislation when they reconvene in January 2027.
In addition to a focus on education transformation, affordability, and housing, we can expect to see:
The Vermont General Assembly runs on a two-year biennial cycle, so any bills that did not advance at the end of the 2026 session do not carry over to 2027. Lawmakers must introduce brand new legislation when they reconvene in January 2027.
In addition to a focus on education transformation, affordability, and housing, we can expect to see:
- Proposals to Increase Rooms & Meals and Short-Term Rental Taxes
Though the hospitality coalition successfully blocked statewide 2% Rooms & Meals increases and surcharges last session, the underlying problem—Vermont's deficit in education funding and affordable housing—remains unresolved which means more pressure to raise state revenues. An increase in tourism taxes affects Vermont’s ability to stay competitive as a destination. The tourism sector has already indicated it will shift its 2027 defensive strategy to emphasize how local option taxes—which 20 towns just passed locally—are already maxing out visitor spending limits. - Continued work toward building workforce development and retention programs and tools can help the tourism sector. Hospitality Workforce Development: A study required under S. 327/Act 128 of 2026 tasked the Department of Labor with mapping structural solutions to the hospitality and culinary employee shortages which could prompt additional bills to help build workforce development capacity.
- During the 2026 Tourism Economy Day, industry groups like Ski Vermont and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce flagged the state's complex and costly environmental permitting framework as a critical bottleneck. Comprehensive permit reform to make the process more efficient and predictable and less costly for businesses is a necessary step toward making Vermont more business friendly and will help to grow our housing stock and economy.
