New tax on visitors to Burlington will help drive more tourism

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Published July 13, 2022 at 10:46 am

A new tax on visitors to Burlington will be used to encourage more people to visit the city.

Burlington City Council approved a Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) for stays in hotels and motels to boost tourism efforts in the city. Guests staying in accommodations in Burlington hotels and motels will pay four per cent more beginning Oct. 1.

The new fee will generate an estimated $450,000 to $700,000 in revenue each year to support new tourism initiatives, attract visitation, bolster current marketing efforts, monitor and evaluate tourism trends through research, and provide tourism related enhancements in the community.

“It’s not often we have businesses asking for a new tax, but the Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) will help our businesses in the tourism industry compete for visitors,” said Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward.

“The funding will go directly toward initiatives that support tourism to Burlington, at a time they can use all the help they can get as one of the sectors hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and still recovering. The MAT will help to promote Burlington as a No. 1 destination spot for visitors, and also provide funding for city-sponsored initiatives. This is a major step forward for our tourism sector and the City and I wholeheartedly support it.”

The City and Tourism Burlington have been working collaboratively with local hotels, motels and the Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association (ORHMA) who are supportive of the plans for a MAT in Burlington.

Once collected, fifty per cent of the funds will go to Tourism Burlington for enhanced tourism promotion and development (as per regulation).

The other 50 per cent will go to the City for initiatives that have some correlation to tourism such as recreation, culture, collaborative marketing, event hosting, wayfinding and product development.

Forty Ontario municipalities are now collecting or are in the process of collecting MAT. Municipalities include Oakville, Mississauga, Toronto, Vaughan, Waterloo, and Prince Edward County.

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