At stake is $6 million a year that is now collected from visitors. It comes from a surcharge on Ottawa hotel bills, with the money being used to encourage tourists to visit the city.
The tourism industry administers the program, collects the money, and decides how and where it will be spent. Most of it goes to advertising in newspapers across Canada, in selected U.S. publications, and on television commercials in key Canadian markets, like Toronto.
Ottawa Tourism, the trade organization for hotels, restaurants and any business that makes money off tourists, sees this revenue as a key element in putting Ottawa more firmly on the tourist map.
There is growing concern in the industry that members of city council would like to get their hands on this new revenue source, to spend on their own pet projects, and to provide funds for events such as the Canadian Tulip Festival.
This concern was voiced by John Spinks, a senior manager of Ottawa International Airport, in his capacity as outgoing chairman of Ottawa Tourism at the organization's annual meeting at the Hampton Inn earlier this month.
Mr. Spinks called what he had to say "a rant." He noted that some members of city council had recently mused about using some of the money collected from hotel guests for purposes other than marketing Ottawa as a destination for tourists.
"Some councillors consider this destination marketing fund as a cash cow," he said. He went on to urge members of Ottawa Tourism to try to dissuade councillors from seeking to get their hands on the money. His remarks, made off the cuff prior to his formal address, were warmly received by Ottawa Tourism members who attended the meeting.
Ottawa's tourist industry is hurting. Latest figures show the number of visitors to the capital dropped slightly last year to about 7.3 million. Visitor spending was up by a measly two per cent to $1.1 billion.
Ottawa Tourism's spending, meanwhile, more than doubled last year, to more than $8.6 million, The $6 million collected from hotel guests through the marketing fee was leveraged to $8.2 million by contributions from government and corporate partners.
Hotels voluntarily opted into collecting the marketing fee from guests. Yet it's doubtful any hotel guests would voluntarily pay the three-per-cent surcharge that is added to their hotel bill. I certainly would not. Indeed, I try to avoid staying in New York City hotels, mainly because they are very expensive but partly because I object to paying a city hotel room tax.
The industry may get away with it in Ottawa partly because most guests are unaware of the surcharge on their bills. Ask an Ottawa hotel how much you'll pay in taxes, and the answer is likely to be 15 per cent. That's what Ontarians pay in taxes on most things, with the GST and PST combined. But hotel rooms are only taxed at a rate of 12 per cent. The three-per-cent destination-marketing charge is thus hidden in the bill.
Today, more than ever, people seem to want the most from life while paying the least.
Everyone agrees it pays to market Ottawa to the world, yet no one wants to pay to do it. So let's get the tourists to pay. Why not? There's a sucker born every minute. Or so the reasoning goes.
Same with the Canadian Tulip Festival. Almost everyone agrees the annual celebration of spring and tulips and life in the capital draws tens of thousands of tourists spending tens of millions of dollars. Yet no one seems prepared to pay the modest cost of staging a few events that create a festival. That's why the tulip festival is once more in financial trouble.
By Michael Prentice
Special to the OBJ
