Hotel tax sought to boost T.O.
Battling for tourists

By Kevin Masterman, Toronto Sun
Copyright 2001 Sun Media Corporation
Article date: July 25, 2001
 

A hotel tax could provide Toronto with money to market itself as a travel hotspot, an industry spokesman says.

Toronto could implement a "leisure levy" -- taking a few dollars from every hotel stay --to go towards marketing the city, said Ellen Flowers of Tourism Toronto.

Flowers said it's a common practice.

"The hotel association, which in the past has been against a levy, has now endorsed it, which is very good news," said Councillor Mike Feldman, chairman of Toronto's economic development committee.
  
"We endorse it because the dollars are coming from the hotel tax and no one notices a hotel tax because it's at the bottom of the bill," Feldman said. "The city has to sell the city --that's our responsibility."

Statistics Canada figures show the city has lost 1.5-million visitors to other Canadian cities and $434 million worth of spending since 1998.

"We continually lose market share," said Rod Seiling, president of the Greater Toronto Hotel Association, who sees British Columbia and Quebec as the emerging markets.

He said travellers need constant reinforcement on where to spend their vacation time.

"We have a false sense of security. If you're not reminding people you're not on the radar screen," Seiling said. "As much as we know and appreciate Toronto as a great city the world does not know about it."
 

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