An indicator of hotel and motel business in Grand Junction continues to trend upward.

The Grand Junction Visitor & Convention Bureau reported collecting $67,569 in lodging taxes in January. That’s an increase of $3,316 and 5.2 percent over the same month last year. January collections reflect hotel and motel stays in December.

For all of 2015, almost $1.4 million in lodging taxes were collected, an increase of 9.1 percent over 2014 and the highest level in five years.

The VCB reported year-over-decreases in January in other statistics it tracks.

A total of 680 visitor guides were requested during January, down 14.6 percent. Meanwhile, 27,720 unique visits to the VCB Web site were reported, down 6.4 percent. The number of people counted as visiting the Grand Junction Visitor Center dropped 22.1 percent to 292.

Online traffic is expected to pick up, while the construction of roundabouts near the center has affected the number of visitors going there.