MARIETTA - Hotel-motel tax collections in unincorporated Cobb are down 1.2 percent in the second quarter, compared with the same period in 2009, but the months of February and March both saw higher year-over-year revenues.

The county collected $2,007,333 in hotel-motel taxes between Jan. 1 and March 31. The same quarter in fiscal year 2009 saw collection of $2,031,078

Cobb's fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30. The county imposes an 8 percent tax on all stays at hotels in unincorporated Cobb.

Since the start of this fiscal year, bed tax revenues are off about 4.6 percent over 2009. So far this fiscal year, the county has collected about $4.3 million, compared with $4.5 million to date in fiscal 2009.

But in March, collections were up 0.6 percent compared with March 2009, and in February they were up 2.8 percent over February 2009.

Brad Bowers, Cobb's director of finance, said he was cautiously optimistic about the collections for February and March.

"Hopefully that trend will continue, but only time will tell. It's not a huge turnaround, but any type of good news is welcomed," Bowers said. "I think it's too early to make any broad statements that we've been through the worst and the only thing that can happen is we go up from here. You just never know. But everything seems to be bottoming out or starting a slight climb from most of the indicators that you might see."

Galleria-area hotels collected the most tax revenue in March. The Renaissance Waverly Hotel led with $557,685.

Holly Bass, the chief executive of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce and the Cobb Convention and Visitors Bureau, said several planned events will continue to add to the hotel-motel tax collections.

For one, the Metro Cooking Show at Cobb Galleria on May 1 and 2, will feature celebrity chefs such as Bobby Flay and Paula Deen.

The Blade Show will also return to the Galleria in June. Last year, 12, 500 people attended the knife show, and this year, Bass expects about 2,000 hotel rooms to be booked for the event.

In the summer, The Perfect Game, a Wood Bat World Series, is expected to bring tens of thousands of visitors to Cobb and net a hotel-room total of 60,000 for the five-week event that runs from June 24 to July 27.

"The big thing with that is they come here and stay and they also eat in our restaurants and they buy gasoline, so it's really good for the county," Bass said.