Visit Vancouver USA, the tourism marketing agency, could be the big winner in the division of lodging tax revenue under plans before the Vancouver City Council.
The city would award about $350,000 to the agency this year, the first of a three-year contract. The next two years would likely be at or near that amount, but based on a percentage of lodging tax revenue collected in the city.
“We need more funding to serve all the needs and opportunities coming at us,” Kim Bennett, Visit Vancouver president and CEO, told council members at their meeting Monday night.
Bennett was among several speakers from the tourism and hospitality industry who spoke to the council about the method to contribute to Visit Vancouver’s budget as well as divvy out an additional $200,000 to organizations or projects that promote visitation in the city.
The council is expected to discuss the matter and possibly vote at its Jan. 28 meeting.
Money for Visit Vancouver as well as the dozen organizations and projects comes from a portion of the city’s 4 percent lodging tax on hotel and motel room nights. Vancouver diverts 2 percent of that money to pay the debt service on the city-owned Hilton Vancouver Washington and Vancouver Convention Center. The other 2 percent is dedicated by the city council to capital improvements for the hotel and convention center and for other tourism-related projects, including community grants.
In addition to the approximately $350,000 directed toward Visit Vancouver in each of the next three years, nearly $200,000 more would be distributed this year only among a dozen groups and projects that were vetted by the city’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee.
Several people spoke to the council about the importance of giving the biggest chunk to Visit Vancouver. (Most of the agency’s budget, about $1.2 million a year, comes from a $2 room tax on hotels in the city with 40 or more rooms.)
However, one speaker challenged the manner with which the advisory committee made its recommended funding selections. The city received 22 proposals for funding, totaling nearly $1 million.
“The grant process lacks transparency,” said Donna Mason, representing Bravo! Concerts Northwest, which presents the Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival among other events. Mason, a former city employee, said the advisory committee included members who voted on projects with which they had a connection.
Mason, who said she had no complaint with the organizations and projects selected, urged the council to consider adding an appeal process for the lodging committee’s selections.
