City of Powell River Council was asked to consider instating a hotel room tax that would assist with tourism promotion on the Sunshine Coast.
Eagle Walz, vice-president of Sunshine Coast Tourism and vice-president of Tourism Powell River, addressed council’s committee of the whole meeting, Tuesday, July 14, to make a pitch for the two per cent room tax.
He said the tourism organizations approached council three years ago seeking its approval for the Municipal Regional District Tax (MRDT). There are new council members since the November 2014 municipal election so he wanted to take the opportunity to say a few words about the MRDT.
“Basically, it’s a matter of this community thriving or getting by,” Walz said. “We can promote Powell River only so much with the amount of money that we are currently operating on, which is $115,000. If we should succeed in ushering in MRDT, and it looks very promising, we will be getting, for the next five years, $1.25 million to promote Powell River to the world far and wide.”
Walz said Sunshine Coast tourism organizations are making first forays into broader promotion but more is required. Visitors who come to Powell River will leave two per cent additional taxation on their hotel bills, allowing more to be done to promote the Sunshine Coast.
Accommodations with less than four rooms would not have to add the tax to visitors’ bills. There are 51 properties here that qualify as eligible entities. Of the 51, 26 signatures have been secured, so that is a majority. There are still some businesses which require time to consider the information so the tourism organization continues to speak with those accommodations businesses and it is hoped there will be more signatures in the coming days.
“Money is not coming out of local pockets,” he said. “This is money that is brought into the community and is circulated in the community and creates wealth.”
The last time the MRDT was explored, endorsement was received from local governments. Walz said he was seeking this new council’s support for tourism’s application to the provincial government to establish the tax locally.
Councillor Russell Brewer said tourism had support of 26 accommodations businesses, but he wondered if that support amounted to more than 50 per cent of the rooms available.
Walz said the number of rooms represented by the supporting accommodations businesses is well above half.
In terms of the rest of the province there are 53 regions that have already adopted the MRDT.
“We are competing against all of the various cities and regional districts on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland,” Walz said. “All around us they have this advantage and we, at this point, are the poor cousins. We want to play on a level playing field.
“I know we can attract a lot more people to come to Powell River to be visiting, first, and eventually some of them will become residents.”
Councillor Maggie Hathaway said one of the complaints she hears from the naysayers is there is enough trouble attracting people to Powell River with the cost of ferries. This just adds more to the cost of coming here.
Walz said the tax assessed to accommodations all around the Sunshine Coast is common throughout the world. Powell River would not be unique in instituting the MRDT.
Committee of the whole agreed to send the matter to the first city council meeting in August for further deliberation and a possible decision.
