Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the NWT’s limited economy, tourism is one of the best opportunities to bring in new money to our North. One way being proposed to build upon that is being put forward by the Hotel Association. They support the creation of a territorial 1 percent hotel tax. Now, at first glance, that may seem counter-intuitive, Mr. Speaker, especially coming from business where they are saying we need a new tax, but that 1 percent hotel tax would add up on average as $1.50 per room each day, Mr. Speaker.
What they believe strongly in is this money would be new money generated to be able to be focused in on tourism opportunities in the Northwest Territories. On average, a 1 percent hotel tax is less than the cost of buying a pop in a hotel vending machine.
As it currently stands, hotel tax is a common function across Canada and used internationally. Mr. Speaker, 10 of our provinces have hotel taxes and they range from a variable to up to about 3 percent. A 1 percent hotel tax, I am suggesting, is not very large but is being called upon by the Hotel Association to do good things.
According to the Yellowknife Hotel Association, if a 1 percent levy had existed in Yellowknife in 2008, it would have generated approximately $208,000 and in 2009 when the global recession was hitting Canada as well as the world, Mr. Speaker, that still would have generated approximately $200,000 new dollars for our North. This money could be invested directly back into tourism marketing, specifically towards maybe someday a hotel convention bureau.
Most of our conference meeting planners want to come north but we don’t have an organized function to help target that. New money generated by a 1 percent hotel tax put forward by the Hotel Association says this may be the way to do this.
Mr. Speaker, we need to encourage the Finance Minister to consider this, especially because it is being strongly advocated by the Hotel Association. Mr. Speaker, these are the people that would help organize it. These are the people who are the backbone of our economy. There is a bread and butter of getting things done. Mr. Speaker, this is an echo held and shouted out loud by industry. Would the government finally listen?
Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister of Finance later today to ask him what his resistance is to considering a hotel tax in the Northwest Territories directly focused in on tourism benefits. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
