Tourism Prince George is one step closer to making one per cent more off travelers who choose to sleep in the city.
On Monday the organization asked city council to support its push to increase the current two per cent hotel tax.
While that amount would be "insignificant" to visitors, said CEO Erica Hummel, it would mean a further $2 million in tourism coffers over a five-year period and an immediate $400,000 each year.
The current tax represents about 75 per cent of Tourism PG's funding so the requested increase would have considerable impact on the organization's bottom line.
Moving from two to three per cent is also the maximum the province will allow.
Council overwhelmingly supported the move, mostly they noted, because it'll be up to the hotels whether the organization's bid moves forward.
In her presentation, Hummel noted she'd need 51 per cent of both the accommodation properties and total rooms to sign off. If that happens, Hummel hopes the tax would kick in by July 1, 2017.
"We really want to keep our image and marketing dollars as strong as possible," said Hummel, and especially start driving traffic in the shoulder season by extending the time when it spends its marketing budget.
"We want to grow the tourism sectors in very strategic areas," she said, pointing to sports, meetings, the "remarkable experience" category and visitor services.
The Municipal and Regional District Tax, previously known as the Additional Hotel Room Tax, has been in place since 2010 and in that time Tourism Prince George has seen its revenue increase by 40 per cent.
That's mostly due to an increase in occupancy rates, Hummel said.
"The cost of this is taken on by the visitor," and an extra dollar on a $100 room won't deter bookings, she said. "It doesn't factor in."
What does factor in, Hummel said, are what a city can offer and marquee events.
Making Prince George a sports destination was one of the key goals outlined in the organization's five-year plan.
"We'd need a city-wide bidding strategy," she said, pointing to Tabor Mountain, Kin 1 and Masich Place Stadium as strong candidates to draw athletic tourism events.
"This looks like a great way to transition some sustainable funding for major sports events," said Coun. Jillian Merrick, who would like to see the city less on the hook for those events.
Merrick said it was easy to support the application given it will ultimately be the accommodations that decide.
"I see this as being a very fair and equitable process," she said.
Currently, none of the hotel tax goes to the province, but if the increase is approved, 0.2 per cent of that increase will go to a provincial tourism fund - under the Ministry of Sport and Culture - for B.C. to pursue big-picture events like the Pan Am Games, Hummel said. That leaves 0.8 per cent for Prince George.
"That in itself concerns me," said Skakun, noting any provincial events "very likely won't have any impact on Prince George."
If Tourism Prince George gets hotel buy-in, council would have to enact a bylaw authorizing collection of the tax and then it would have to reach out to the province for approval, Hummel said.
"This would be your application," she said, adding the goal is to have that submitted by August 2016.
