From the Niagara Falls Review: Last spring, my cohort Ray Spiteri and I did a three-part series on the Destination Marketing Fee, the notorious tourism fee several Niagara Falls hotels and restaurants have been charging since 2004. In recent years, the fee – up to 10 per cent in some places – has angered countless…
From the Buffalo News: Niagara County and the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. have agreed in principle on a new three-year contract for the NTCC to continue as the county’s official tourism promotion agency. NTCC President John Percy said details remain to be negotiated, but the agreement staved off the June 18 expiration of the…
From the Buffalo News: The agency responsible for promoting Niagara Falls and Niagara County tourism will have its effectiveness evaluated under an agreement reached this week. A Canadian firm will be hired to conduct a “performance audit” of Niagara Tourism & Convention Corp., a key term that got the Niagara Falls City Council to approve…
From the Buffalo News: Niagara County’s tourism promotion agency sued the City of Niagara Falls on Tuesday over the city’s refusal to convey proceeds of the city’s tax on hotel and motel bills to the agency. The Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. filed the suit in State Supreme Court, demanding that a judge order to…
From the Niagara Falls Review: Bringing the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show to Ontario will cost four taxpayer-funded funded tourist agencies a total of $450,000, according to the Niagara-based tourism organization involved in the effort to bring segments of the ABC late-night show to Canada. “There is funding involved. It’s about a half a million dollars…
From the Niagara Falls Review: The head of a leading provincial tourism marketing agency has been named the first chief executive officer of a new Niagara tourism agency. Robin Garrett, president of the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership, was appointed CEO of the Tourism Partnership of Niagara, the organization announced Monday. “It will be a very…
From the Niagara Falls Review: Some “exceptions” to Premier Dalton McGuinty’s 2009 rule requiring all government contracts to be subject to competitive bids allowed Niagara’s tourism agency to spend $500,000 on an untendered contract to publish a promotional magazine, says Tourism Minister Michael Chan. “There are exceptions in terms of single-source procurement,” Chan said Wednesday…