Another article about the Destination Marketing Fee (or DMF) in the Niagara Region from the Niagara Falls Review:
St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan wants all Niagara municipalities to pool destination marketing fund money to promote the region to tourists -and he’s got the support of Regional Chairman Peter Partington.
“I think we’re fortunate to have the Falls here, in terms of a major tourist destination,” McMullan said this week. “I don’t think we should be envious of that, but we should be using that to our best advantage and we aren’t, so shame on us.”
Currently, St. Catharines is the only one of Niagara’s 12 municipalities to collect a government-approved destination marketing fee: Money raised by a three per cent levy on a hotel room bill to promote a tourist destination.
With 700 hotel rooms, the Garden City generates about $250,000 a year in destination marketing fees, which is remitted to and managed by the nonprofit Ontario Restaurant, Hotel and Motel Association.
Niagara Falls collects an estimated $9.6 million a year through its version of the destination marketing fee as well, although the funds are typically kept by the individual hotel owners for their own programs as well as buy-ins with Niagara Falls Tourism.