New hotel tourism fee could help promote Waterloo Region, marketing group says

People staying at hotels in Waterloo Region may see a new tourism fee added to their bill if a proposal from the Waterloo Region Tourism Marketing Corporation gets approval.

"These kinds of programs exist across the country," said Minto Schneider, the corporation's executive director. This includes Niagara Falls, Sault Ste. Marie, Toronto and Ottawa.

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The fee, which would likely be about three per cent, would go towards developing a destination marketing program, she said. That means a room that goes for $100 would have a $3 fee.

The fee would be voluntary, but the hope is that the majority of hotels would be on board. Then, the corporation would come up with suggestions on how that money is best spent to promote the area.

Not a tax

Ontario's provincial government offers advice on a program it calls the Destination Marketing Fee, a province-wide initiative that allows businesses to generate additional funds for tourism development and marketing. Under this program, the fees must go to a local tourism promotion board and not to the government.

"The hotels that agree to participate will have a say in what the money goes to promote," Schneider said.

The province's guidelines also stipulate that: 

"Businesses collecting fees are responsible for ensuring that fees are not misrepresented as taxes. Businesses may include fees in the price or make the amount to be charged known in advance to the prospective visitor and accurately describe its purpose." 

Need hotels to agree

Lucille Bush, director of cultural services for the region, is bringing forward a report to the region's administration and finance committee meeting Tuesday.

She said there has already been some work to get hotels on board with the idea.

Sport is probably one of our biggest opportunities.- Minto Schneider, executive director of the Waterloo Region Tourism Marketing Corporation

"The difficulty is that then the ones who might be in favour of it will say, 'But no, I don't want to unless everybody's doing it,'" she said. "You really have to have close to 100 per cent agreement."

The region cannot tell the hotels to charge the fee because then it becomes a tax.

Schneider said they have "general support" from hotel owners they've spoken to, and they would prefer for the fee to be voluntary rather than mandatory because it would mean the hotel management would have a vested interest in how that money is used.

Who pays what

The idea of a fee might seem controversial, but Art Sinclair, vice president of the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, said they would agree with the recommendation.

"I think that's obviously what the industry has to decide between the private sector and the public sector: How much is the private sector, the operators, going to pay and how much is the … public sector going to pay moving forward," he said.

"We would certainly trust the tourism marketing corporation to make the appropriate decisions based on the interest of the industry."

Sport tourism 'is big'

While Waterloo Region might not seem like a tourist destination on par with the likes of Toronto, Niagara Falls or Ottawa, Schneider said there are many things to draw people to the area.

For traditional tourists, that includes St. Jacobs, local museums and festivals including Kitchener Blues Festival and Oktoberfest.

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But, she added, "Tourism extends much further than that."

Other groups they would target with marketing include corporate tourism – where organizations, companies and groups are encouraged to hold large, sometimes multi-day meetings in the area – as well as sports tourism.

"Sport is probably one of our biggest opportunities," Schneider said.

Each April, hundreds of teams play volleyball in Waterloo as part of a national championship that spans several weekends. There are hockey and softball tournaments that bring people into the region for multiple nights, and the region is part of a team applying to host the Canada Summer Games.

"You have to work hard and compete with other destinations to try and attract that kind of business … Sport, particularly provincial sport and provincial association business, is big for the cities the size of ours."