A bid by Sunshine Coast Tourism (SCT) for a two per cent hotel tax has been rejected by the province. Undeterred, the marketing group says the initiative can be revived at any time.
“We’re sitting at 50-50 right now,” said Celia Robben, SCT president. “It only takes a handful of players to make a completed application. At this point, those players can make that decision for themselves at any time.”
Robben said her group came up three operators short of having a majority of the 45 eligible accommodation providers onside when the ministry of finance closed the group’s application earlier this month.
Despite the setback, Robben said, “I wouldn’t say it’s off the table—you’ve got a group of properties that really want this to happen.”
SCT had collected signatures from 57 per cent of eligible accommodation providers when it submitted its original application for the municipal and regional district tax (MRDT) to the province in July. Opponents of the tax responded with a petition from a majority of operators, opposing the implementation of the tax.
This fall, the province directed SCT to request accommodation providers who were in favour of the tax to send letters of support to their regional district offices.
Colin MacLean, one of the petition organizers, said he was “very pleased” to hear the tax had been shelved after failing to win majority support.
“I think it’s certainly the right direction to move in now, considering the majority of accommodation providers have not been in favour since August 26,” MacLean said.
MacLean said he hoped SCT would give serious attention to some ideas proposed by the petitioners for a more equitable and measurable marketing program. One of the main objections to the hotel tax was that it would impact only customers of the eligible accommodation sector, rather than all 350 SCT members.
Robben said the group had looked at a wide variety of funding sources.
“But I’m not sure why we wouldn’t want to follow the provincial lead and do what other communities are doing,” she said.
The MRDT is in place in more than 50 BC communities, and the recent approval of the City of Courtney leaves the Sunshine Coast “as one of the few regions that is not leveraging the additional funding to promote its tourism industry,” SCT said in a media release issued last week.
Its omission makes the Sunshine Coast “a have-not region, unable to compete on the same level playing field on which all our neighbours operate,” said SCT vice-president Eagle Walz.
The failure of the current application means a number of projects will be shelved, including expanded participation in consumer shows, seasonal advertising campaigns, maps, signage and a digital strategy for social media, the release said.
The room tax was expected to generate about $250,000 per year, 75 per cent for regional marketing and 25 per cent for local tourism-enhancement projects.
