The Destination Marketing Fee as a sustainable source of funding for our industry.
Sustainable funding for marketing hotels and attractions in Canmore as a tourism destination has long been a critical issue facing the industry, not only in this region, but also in many other jurisdictions. Three years ago, the Province of Alberta, recognizing the importance of tourism to the economy, increased funding to the Department of Alberta Economic Development and Tourism. The 5% hotel tax charged on accommodations and going to the province’s general revenues was replaced with a 4% tourism levy and is dedicated to Travel Alberta. This was an important first step in ensuring that Alberta remains competitive with other destinations vying for tourism dollars.
While this was tremendous news for the industry as a province, it does not provide additional funds to directly market the various regions of the Province. Longer term successful marketing initiatives require a sustainable funding model and Canmore lags considerably behind in regards to municipal tourism funding.
Soon, many regions in Alberta will have a Destination Marketing Fund in place, as do almost all jurisdictions in Canada. This will increase the competition for the tourist dollar and the issue of having the ongoing resources becomes critical.
Most successful jurisdictions across North America have, or are in the process of implementing programs where a charge is added to accommodation rates to create funding for the purpose of tourism marketing in a specific municipality. Each one of the jurisdictions has reported an increase in tourism since the implementation of such programs.
There are methods to increase the awareness of Canmore generally as a destination of choice in a very competitive marketplace, methods that are designed specifically to fill hotel rooms.