All things Niagara Falls tourism…
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Toss those pumpkins. Put the costumes away. Hide the Halloween stuff.
It’s time for another Winter Festival of Lights…
“We’re the top (lights festival) in Canada,” says festival general manager Dino Fazio.
“Nobody touches us in Canada. In America, after this year we’ll definitely rank top two, if not No. 1.”
This is from a press release available on PRWeb:
The Winter Festival of Lights (WFOL) will kick off its 25th Anniversary celebrations beginning Saturday, November 3, 2007 in Queen Victoria Park, along the Niagara Parkway. Opening Ceremonies for the Winter Festival of Lights, presented by Ontario Power Generation, begin at 5:00 pm.
An ideal destination for an Ontario winter getaway, this favorite of Niagara Falls events attracts 1.3 million visitors per year. Opening Ceremonies for the 25th annual Winter Festival of Lights in Niagara Falls features special guests, Disney’s© Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, flipping the switch to illuminate hundreds of animated displays, three million tree and ground lights, and launch a kaleidoscope of fireworks to begin the celebrations. The opening night’s activities also include home-grown Niagara Falls entertainment with a local choir singing a medley of festive tunes along with previews of shows scheduled for this year’s Festival.
From Niagara This Week:
Wayne Thomson thinks a new American tourist-advertising video which shows footage of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls shot from a viewpoint in Canada is little more than water under the bridge.
In fact, he thinks it was a blessing in disguise.
“There’s no bad kind of advertising,” said the city councillor and chair of Niagara Falls Tourism. “It shows that if you want to see Niagara Falls, you have to be on the Canadian side for the beauty,” adding that “it’s a good marketing opportunity. I like the cost; it’s free.”
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Public financing of Niagara Falls Tourism has been a point of contention at city budget deliberation time for years - although it appears the group might get a warmer reception at council this year, despite the fact it wants more taxpayer money…
Many tourism operators in the city have been using a destination marketing fee over the past few years - essentially an additional tax - to raise extra money. Council has been told the $35 million in private investment toward the new convention centre has been collected through the marketing fee. That’s good to finally hear.
Still it would be nice for taxpayers to see an audit of this program.
I totally agree! I think the DMF (destination marketing fee) is a big scam. The hotels don’t have to account for it at all. It is taxable itself, which shows it isn’t a real tax (that’s why it’s called a fee). The hotels are getting an extra 3% revenue that they are supposed to use for marketing, but there is no way to confirm that it is actually being used for that. I also highly doubt that $35 million of the DMF has been invested in the new convention centre. If this DMF is really for promoting Niagara Falls, then why not submit that money directly to Niagara Falls Tourism so the city doesn’t have to give more taxpayer money to them?
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