Maryland tourism tax revenue increased 7.9 percent between July 2011 and April 2012, a jump attributed to higher taxes on alcohol, state officials said, the Baltimore Business Journal reported.

Through April of fiscal year 2012, tourism tax revenue accounted for nearly $314 million of all state sales tax revenue — up from about $291 million during the same period in fiscal year 2011, the Maryland Office of Tourism Development said in its monthly Maryland Tourism Monitor report.