Harris Rosen, CEO of Orlando-based Rosen Hotels & Resorts, has relaunched a campaign to raise Orange County's tourist development tax, directing the added revenue toward transportation and housing needs in the market where his company operates thousands of hotel rooms.

Rosen is reprising an effort that Orange County leaders and tourism industry stakeholders have debated repeatedly in recent years. The county's hotel-tax rate has long been a point of contention between tourism promoters, who rely on the levy to fund Visit Orlando and the Orange County Convention Center, and business leaders who argue the revenue base has grown large enough to support broader public needs.

Rosen's plan would steer new tax dollars toward two of metro Orlando's most pressing operational and economic problems: a transportation system strained by tourism-driven traffic and a housing market where costs have climbed for the hospitality workforce that staffs the region's hotels, restaurants and attractions.

The push carries weight because of Rosen's position in the market. Rosen Hotels & Resorts operates multiple properties in the Orlando market, including properties along International Drive, the corridor that anchors much of the county's tourist economy. The company has a long record of funding workforce and community initiatives directly — including housing programs and education investments — which Rosen has cited as precedent for putting public tourism revenue toward similar purposes.

Any change to the tax requires action from the Orange County Board of County Commissioners, which sets the tourist development tax rate under Florida law. Previous attempts to raise the levy have drawn opposition from segments of the hotel industry concerned that higher rates could affect room demand or the competitive position of the destination against rival Florida markets.

Tourism tax revenue in Orange County has repeatedly set records in recent years as visitor volumes to the Orlando market have recovered and grown, strengthening the fiscal argument Rosen and other advocates have made that the tax base can absorb a rate increase without cutting existing commitments to tourism marketing and convention-center operations.

Rosen has framed the initiative as a way to address the gap between the scale of tourism revenue the county collects and the infrastructure and housing burdens that tourism growth places on residents and workers. Supporters of prior proposals have pointed to the same imbalance.

The outcome will depend on whether Rosen can assemble a commission majority and hold together a coalition of hotel operators willing to accept a higher rate. Similar proposals have stalled before reaching a vote, but the renewed campaign comes as county leaders face continued pressure on transportation funding and housing affordability — pressures that touch hospitality employers directly through labor availability and retention costs.

If the commission takes up the measure, the debate will center on the size of the increase, the split of new revenue between transportation and housing, and protections for existing allocations to Visit Orlando and the convention center.