Room Tax to Encourage
Visits and Sports Tourism
The City of Nanaimo, the Nanaimo Hospitality
Association (NHA) and the Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation (NEDC/Tourism
Nanaimo) are pleased to announce provincial approval of a new source of funding
for developing Nanaimo as a tourism destination. Nanaimo will be taking another
step toward developing the potential of its tourism industry with the approval of the two per cent Municipal and Regional District Tax
(MRDT).
The tax will be charged and remitted to the Province in the same fashion as the PST, those funds will be sent to the City of Nanaimo who in turn will forward the funds to the NHA who will determine which projects receive funding according to strict guidelines.
The MRDT applies to taxable accommodation sold in hotels, motels, resorts, hostels, bed & breakfasts and other establishments offering short-term accommodation.
"The accommodation operators in Nanaimo strongly believe that we must give people a reason to stop and visit the city that we all know and love. We must increase overnight stays. The monies generated by the MRDT will help support the development of new tourism experiences and will augment the great work currently being done by Tourism Nanaimo and the NEDC." Dan Brady, Chair of the NHA.
It is anticipated the tax which comes into effect of April 1/15 will generate $400,000 annually which will be used to fund programs designed to attract people who will not only come to Nanaimo, but will stay for at least two nights in local accommodation.
The funds will be dispersed at the rate of 45% to Festivals and events, 35% to Sports Tourism and 20% to the cost of marketing such programs.
I'm sorry, but IMO, creating or increasing a tax on ANYTHING is counterintuitive to attracting people. This is nonsense spin by a bunch of bureaucrats, whose salaries are paid for by our tax dollars. If the NHA is so concerned with spending money to make money, why don't the hoteliers and tourism related businesses take this money out of their own profits and reinvest it into areas where this tax is to be utilized (more than likely much of it in the pockets of more staff, to enable them to administer the tax "efficiently"). If this tax does not live up to its hype and promise after 2 years, will they abolish it?
ReplyDeleteIt seems these guys do nothing but dream up fruitless pie-in-the-sky ideas on how to increase tourism here. The conference centre and cruise ship terminals have turned out to be disastrous wastes of our tax dollars thus far. The interest income alone from those 2 projects could have created $3M to $4M worth of annual funding for these tourism ideas/advertising/projects. We need a reason for people to come here, i.e., attractions, before we spend more money trying to entice them.
The fact of the matter, I suspect, is that our sinking dollar will have the greatest positive impact on tourism, regardless of any new taxes and/or schemes. How about this novel approach - advertise Nanaimo as the city with NO hotel tax.