Flin Flon’s accommodation tax is netting the city tens of thousands of dollars to market and beautify the community.
Enacted in February 2014, the tax generated $83,940 the first year and $101,000 so far in 2015, city figures show.
The tax, a five per cent charge on overnight accommodations in the community, was introduced to help draw additional visitors.
“The program is fairly new but is designed to benefit the entire community,” said Mayor Cal Huntley. “There are two main focuses of the program and that is to promote the area and enhance the community to make it more attractive
for people to visit.”
Huntley does not believe the tax is a deterrent to visitors as it is common in the hotel and motel industry.
Mark Kolt, chief administrative officer for the city, confirmed the revenue is being spent in a variety of areas.
“The focus is on community development,” he said. “We put the money toward things that spruce up the community and make it attractive.”
There is no specific project the money has been earmarked for. Rather, the funds go toward a variety of ongoing projects, explained Kolt.
He cited the Community Hall and Whitney Forum as two major attractions in the community that need ongoing maintenance and repair.
“These facilities are here as a service to the public and are run on a break-even budget,” Kolt said. “We need to keep them in good shape to give people a reason to come here. As focal points of our community, there are a number of activities hosted in these facilities, and they are a big draw to entice people to come visit.”
Funding is also used to promote the community through tourism guides, Travel Manitoba publications, airline magazines and a variety of other avenues.
The additional tax does not seem to have negatively affected business at the Victoria Inn and Convention Centre in Flin Flon, according to general manager David Brooks.
“We are not the first community to have this tax,” he said, listing Thompson, The Pas, Winnipeg and Brandon as other examples.
Brooks hopes the money will be spent on promotional campaigns and advertising that will benefit the entire community.
He’d like to see city council look at the big picture in terms of generating visitors to the area.
While his business will benefit from increased traffic to town, so will other businesses that aren’t faced with the accommodation tax.
“The only concern I have is that they are taxing the hotels but not other businesses which benefit from having more people come and shop,” he said. “Why are they only picking on hotels when other businesses are benefiting from having more people come to town, too?”
