Hamilton County hotel/motel tax collections from March were down over $402,000.
Trustee Bill Hullander said 2019 collections for the month were $829,569.
After the coronavirus put a virtual halt on travel and tourism, that dropped to $427,502 for March collections this year.
Prior to the virus, the hotel/motel collections had been soaring.
However, its effect will cause total collections for the fiscal year to be below the prior year.
County Mayor Jim Coppinger said the Visitors Bureau is projecting that revenue for the upcoming fiscal year will be around half what it is now.
The county years ago decided that all of the county portion of the tax revenue would go to the Visitors Bureau to promote Chattanooga.
The city uses its portion for riverfront projects.
County Mayor Coppinger said Barry White, president of the Visitors Bureau, will be going before the County Commission on Wednesday.
The county mayor said, "Is he going to ask that the County Commission make up the difference? The answer is no."
He added, "Whatever they get they get."