By Sean Bassinger

The region’s hotels and motels continue to expand as more Tri-City visitors check in for overnight stays.

The increase in the number of guest rooms has been constant in the past four years, rising 25 percent, from 3,358 rooms in 2014 to an anticipated 4,191 rooms by the end of 2017, said Kris Watkins, president and CEO of Visit Tri-Cities.

With the increase in rooms comes the increase in the amount of hotel and motel taxes collected.

The Tri-Cities has seen an increase of 3.4 percent in motel and hotel taxes in 2016 from the previous year.

Each of the cities receives about 2 percent or a little more, depending on the area.

“It’s quite large when you bring in 1,200 to 1,500 people in a 40- to 50-day period,” Watkins said.

Tourism generated $16.5 million in taxes for local use and 5,900 tourism-related jobs in 2015.

“It’s a very good indicator that the revenues are growing in terms of the hotel lodging industry in the Tri-Cities,” she said. “It’s something that we follow because it’s a good indicator, as well as the actual room nights that are picked up.”

Money received from motel and hotel tax collections are required to go toward tourism-related activities, operations or expenditures.

Hotels see most traffic around Memorial Day and Labor Day. They also welcome several businesses or agricultural groups in the first quarter, such as the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers’ and the Washington-Oregon Potato Conference.

“Those agricultural groups are usually meeting the first quarter of every year, because it’s spring time, that’s when they start work,” Watkins said.

Convention groups are a very important and sought-after part of the Tri-City tourism portfolio since business and leisure travel slows in the winter.

The Tri-Cities welcomed 214 conventions and sporting events that brought in 128,866 visitors and an estimated $38 million in visitor spending last year.

And Watkins said the area is seeing more travelers come for the region’s award-winning wines, as well as the Manhattan Project National Park.

“That is an area that’s really starting to grow,” she said.

She said the Tri-City region competes with Seattle, Spokane, Yakima, Wenatchee and Vancouver for visitors.

Spokane had a recent expansion to its convention center, a project Watkins said is needed in the Tri-Cities at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick.

She said local growers, agricultural groups and businesses who visit have been very loyal, but that their own group numbers continue to grow.

“We need to be able to sustain them for the Tri-Cities region,” Watkins said. “I’m fearful that if we don’t expand that convention center, we’re going to lose that business we already have.”

The end of the year appears to be the most challenging overall, though the area welcomes several convention groups and sports teams, Watkins said.

At least 202 guest rooms will be added to the area in 2017, up from 121 in 2016. This contributes to 833 guest rooms added since 2015, Watkins said.

One of the newest hotels, Home2 Suites in south Richland, opened Feb. 3.

Each room at the extend-stay hotel has a full kitchenette, HDTV and sleeper sofa, said Berenice Trevino, sales manager at Home2 Suites.

Richland Hotel Partners owns the 18,561-square-foot site, while Western States Lodging and Management runs it. The whole project cost $9 million to build, with land costs around $1.4 million.

“It’s geared toward the sophisticated, thrifty traveler of today,” Trevino said. “It’s such a new product — it’s fresh, innovative, versatile. There really isn’t a hotel like ours in the area.”

The company is partnering with government agencies, local wineries and anyone wanting to stay in the Tri-Cities long term to promote local tourism, Trevino said, noting that they are members of the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce and West Richland Chamber of Commerce.

“As members, we are promoting Tri-City tourism and making sure those tourism dollars are spent well,” she said.