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08/01/2006: "Sales Up In San Juan County -How Come?"

According to the latest figures from the State, there has been a nine percent increase in the hotel and motel tax collected in San Juan County. There was a +28% increase in April, followed by +18% in May. A number of groups have been promoting the San Juan Islands, and the increase may be the result of the marketing of the islands by these groups.

Both ABC News and Travel + Leisure magazine have listed the islands as "Top" islands in the U.S., and even the New York Times did a story on the county, including run-of-the-mill facts (e.g.: "There are 176 named islands in the San Juan archipelago, although these and large rocks around them amount to 743 at low tide and 428 at high tide. Sixty are populated.."), and pointed out what those of us who live here already know, that "Each of the San Juans maintains a distinct character". You may not have known that the we receive 250 days of sunshine a year, but the story did not say how many hours a day the sunshine gets through the clouds.