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Tourism Thunder Bay welcoming applications for hotel tax funding

Municipal accommodation tax, which adds four per cent charge on hotel stays, is expected to generate $2 million annually with 50 per cent required to be directed to designated tourism entity.
Paul Pepe
Tourism Thunder Bay manager Paul Pepe said funding available from the city's municipal acommodation tax can be a game changer for the local tourism economy. (Matt Vis, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY – Tax dollars collected from hotel stays in Thunder Bay are being made available for tourism entities, nearly one year after the municipal accommodation tax was first charged.

The application process for Tourism Thunder Bay’s stream of municipal accommodation tax dollars was officially launched on Wednesday, with the program focusing on increasing and enhancing offerings available to visitors to the city.

Thunder Bay officially introduced the municipal accommodation tax on Sept. 1, 2018, adding four per cent to hotel bills. Provincial legislation requires that revenue – which is expected to amount to $2 million annually in Thunder Bay – be divided with a minimum of 50 per cent directed to a not-for-profit tourism entity while the remaining amount goes into municipal coffers. Tourism Thunder Bay, through the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission, was designated as the tourism entity.

Tourism Thunder Bay manager Paul Pepe said the funding opportunities will be a game changer.

“It’s really going to allow us to invest money back into Thunder Bay’s tourism economy and grow our tourism economy with enhanced event support and enhanced product development support to help businesses, not-for-profits and other public sector agencies grow their visitor experiences, grow tourism experiences and create new ones,” Pepe said.

“All of that leads to a more robust year-round tourism economy and it also then increases the demands for our community overall from a visitor perspective.”

A seven-member investment committee has been established to make recommendations to dole out the expected $1 million share. Pepe said as many as 30 organizations and businesses have been inquiring about the program, anticipating applications starting to be submitted within the coming weeks and the committee will start evaluating them in September.

The terms of reference has identified 55 per cent of that funding go toward product development.

Recent examples product development include the former Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Alexander Henry, Northwest Helicopter Tours and Seek and Adventure Tours, Pepe said, adding possible future opportunities could be mountain bike trails or ski hill enhancements to potentially turn them into four-season facilities.

“Having more things for people to see and do while they’re in a community is critical to growing the tourism economy,” Pepe said. “From there, we can market better experiences and better product.”

As well, 25 per cent has been earmarked for increased sport and convention efforts.

Pepe said the potential to access funding could be an incentive for event organizers to think about how tourism potential, beyond just their local reach.

“This will allow them to have access to some financial resources to grow their marketing efforts into Minnesota, into other parts of Ontario, into Manitoba, nationally, internationally and attract more people to their events,” Pepe said.

“Then that collective of events, even if they’re not the reason a visitor is coming to stay in Thunder Bay, those events still play a critical role in helping visitors stay longer in the community.”

There are a number of local events that are looking to get to the next level, Pepe added.

“They want to bring bigger acts that are going to have a bigger tourism draw that people are willing to travel to see,” Pepe said.



About the Author: Matt Vis

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