City council votes for slow increases to 4% by 2025
If you stay in St. Catharines hotel, you'll notice a 2-percent hotel accommodation tax.
City council recently voted for that to go to 3%, then 4-percent by 2025. The money is used for a tourism fund to attract people to the city. Other cities do the same thing.
Councillor Carlos Garcia pointed out the city competes with a "big daddy in Niagara Falls".
"We are kind of a secondary location, and I think we have under a thousand hotel rooms in total, and Niagara Falls has, like, 12,000... and staying with the 4% I think psychologically makes us uncompetitive," he says.
Councillor Robin McPherson argued Niagara Falls hotels average over $100 more a night, so St. Catharines is competitive with 4%.
Councillor Greg Miller also argued for the 4-percent rate now. "Moving from 4% to 2-percent will be reducing that budget by 50%, which is huge. Whereas I think for the average person coming to St. Catharines to stay, the difference between the $5 fee and the $3 fee is incredibly negligible."
While Councillor Garcia agreed with that, he voted for 2-percent saying it can be difficult competing with the much larger number of hotels in Niagara Falls.
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