Hotel rooms in Squamish will be two per cent more expensive and Mohsen Mohajer, Sea to Sky Hotel general manager couldn't be happier.
Mohajer is supportive of the increase because the proposed Additional Hotel Room Tax bylaw translates into more customers. The tax, which was given first three readings at the Feb. 3 council meeting, is meant to raise revenue for tourism marketing.
"The funds from the tax are going to help us market Squamish and put our community on the map. That's why we are we are supportive of the tax," Mohajer said.
Mohajer is among the 73 per cent of property owners in Squamish supporting the hotel room tax initiative.
The funds will support the work of Tourism Squamish to promote the community as a viable tourist destination. To date, Tourism Squamish has secured $107,000 in grant funding to implement tourism marketing and development initiatives. The grant funding is not guaranteed year-to-year. The hotel room tax serves as a reliable and sustainable source of funding.
"Three hoteliers sit on our board which allows them to say where the money should be spent," said Lesley Weeks, Tourism Squamish's manager of tourism development. "People are excited to know that we will be positioning Squamish as a great destination."
The hotel tax initiative is not unique to Squamish. Currently 40 communities throughout the province rely on a hotel tax to support tourism programs. It's been estimated the tax would generate about $123,654 a year for Tourism Squamish.
"There will be a transition period but if this bylaw is approved, we hope to be collecting funds at the beginning of June. It would be great to have this online before other hotels are finished," Weeks said.
The other hotels include a new Holiday Inn Express, Ramada Hotel and Shannon Springs renovations - bumping total rooms to 873 from 401. Once all the hotels are online, the estimated hotel tax income would soar to $483,703.
"Our goal is to bring overnight stays to Squamish and drive business to our tourism market," Weeks said.
For Tourism Squamish, driving business to the tourism market means bringing conferences to the community as well as designing packages around signature events such as the Test of Metal. Weeks said the new conference centre is an added bonus.
Coun. Paul Lalli, chair of the economic development committee, is bubbling with excitement over the proposed bylaw, calling it an excellent piece of work for the community.
"I think we will be able to market our community on a larger scale now with news of a brand new convention centre that will host up to 1,200 people," Lalli said.
The rest of council gave enthusiastic initial support to the bylaw, which is expected to be adopted at an upcoming council meeting.
"I tried to get this going eight years ago and I am pleased this is going forward," said Coun. Patricia Heinztman. "This is going to be beneficial for our community."
