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Tourism Industry Expresses Renewed Optimism on Border Restrictions

The Council of Tourism Associations (COTA), the voice of the BC tourism industry, is expressing renewed optimism that stringent U.S. border documentation requirements will be delayed until June 2009, after the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan amendment to the Comprehensive
Immigration Act on Wednesday, May 17th.

The amendment, if passed into law, would allow for border documentation rules to remain as they are now - that is, U.S. and Canadian citizens would still be able to enter and leave both countries with a driver's license or birth certificate until June 2009.

But the legislation must still navigate a number of obstacles prior to being passed into law.

The immigration bill must still pass the U.S. Senate and, following that, leaders from the Senate and Congress must jointly develop a final compromise piece of legislation which they both agree to.

"The battle is far from over, but this is a significant breakthrough for us," says C. Michael Campbell, Chair of the COTA Board of Directors." It signals a shift in momentum toward a more balanced approach to this issue. There are so many ways we can work with our American partners to
ensure that borders are secure, without unduly impacting our economies - particularly in border regions."

Tourism industry representatives remain optimistic that the passage of Wednesday's amendment may signal a crucial tipping point in the debate, as there appears to be mounting consensus on both sides of the border that the needs of security and commerce need not be mutually exclusive.

But the tourism industry also warns of complacency and excessive optimism about the implications of the Senate amendment.

"What we're saying is 'this is fantastic news, but it's no time to sit on our hands,'" states Mary Mahon Jones, CEO of COTA. "Now that we have a legislative amendment to delay the implementation of the border restrictions, we must continue to work with our US counterparts to ensure that this gets passed into law. We're encouraging all our partners in tourism and other industries to write their U.S. counterparts, and urge them to contact their local Congressmen and Senators in support of this amendment and ensuing legislation."

Tourism officials also have hope that the delay may give Canadian and US governments sufficient time to retrofit provincial and state-issued driver's licenses, so that they will be in compliance with the WHTI documentation requirements. If driver's licenses were to contain tamper-proof biometric and citizenship information, they could meet the requirements set out by the WHTI.

COTA is a federation of organizations and businesses representing an industry of nearly 18,000 tourism operations throughout British Columbia. Tourism creates jobs for over 117,500 British Columbians and $9.8 billion in visitor spending in communities throughout the province.

The Gas Tax: A Review Of Gasoline Taxes in BC

With June crude oil trading at $72.28 per barrel, a booming global economy and concerns over peace in the middle east, many BC tourism operators are beginning to worry that continued increases in transportation costs will negatively impact their summer traffic. Some tourism businesses fear that higher fuel costs will not only mean a high price for services and goods, but a decrease in visitation rates to BC’s tourism destinations. This could prove detrimental for an industry already battling a high Canadian dollar, the impending implementation of US passport requirements and an increasingly competitive international travel market.

As a result, some businesses are starting to question the imposition of the governments’ gas taxes and whether or not governments are simply ‘lining their coffers’ at the expense of the travel industry. As such, this summary offers a breakdown of the different taxes imposed on gasoline, an estimate of their revenue and a brief description on projects they fund.

Gas Taxes in British Columbia
In British Columbia, four levels of gas tax exist, including:

1. Federal Excise Tax (11.0 cents per litre, 12.0 cents per litre for leaded gasoline)
2. Goods and Services Tax (7%)
3. BC Provincial Excise Tax (14.5 per litre)
4. Municipal Excise Tax (in Victoria [2.5 cents per litre] and in Vancouver [6.75 cents per litre]

Source: Backgrounder - Oil and Gas Prices, Taxes and Consumers, Government of Canada, Department of Finance, [online], October, 2005

Federal Excise Tax
The federal excise tax currently raises about $5 billion each year ($4 billion from the gasoline and $1 billion from diesel and aviation fuel) with between 2% and 7% going into highway upgrades; the rest goes into general revenue.

With the ‘New Deal’ between the provincial and federal governments, half of the fuel excise tax will be given to municipalities over the next five years. Money from this program will support environmentally sustainable infrastructure projects such as public transit, water and wastewater treatment, community energy systems and the handling of solid waste. British Columbia’s communities will receive approximately $635.6 million. Eventually, the government will be handing the equivalent of 5 cents per litre of gas revenues to these community projects (distributed on a per capita basis).

Goods and Services Tax (GST)
GST revenues are collect from the purchase of fuel on top of the existing excise tax. Although the taxation of this commodity goes into general GST revenue, 2005 estimates suggest the total to be as high as $2 billion.

Provincial Excise Tax
Provincial tax rates vary depending upon the community. In most communities, the Province collects14.5 per litre, which generated approximately $915,000,000 (2005/06 estimates) per year. British Columbia dedicates 6.75 cents or the 14.5 cents per litre to the British Columbia Transportation Financing Authority to help finance major transportation projects. For more information on BC’s gas tax rates see the chart below entitled BC Motor Vehicle Gasoline Taxes, 2004.

Municipal Excise Tax
BC’s Transit Authority Act allows municipalities to help finance their urban transportation by levying a tax on gasoline purchased in their area. As a result, both the Vancouver and Victoria regional transit service areas have levied additional taxes on gas purchased within their jurisdiction. Victoria dedicates their revenue, based on 2.5 cents per litre, to public transit and Vancouver’s tax of 11.5 cents per litre goes towards TransLink.

Source: Perry, David and Karin Treff, David, Finances of the Nation 2005, [online], 2005, available at http://www.ctf.ca/FN2005/finances2005.asp.

To read more on the increased cost of gasoline and its potential impact on the BC’s tourism industry, purchase a copy of the BC Tourism Review Series publication entitled Fuel Factor: The Impacts of Higher Fuel Costs on the BC Tourism Industry, click here.

Source: COTA May 16, 2006 newsletter.

 

Media Update!

It’s a busy time for media in the Vancouver, Coast & Mountains region! Jennifer Huitema is off to attend Go Media Marketplace in Huntsville, ON from May 21 – 25. Go Media is the media component to Rendez-vous Canada, open to both international and Canadian media. These 2 marketplaces used to run at the same time in the same location, however this year Go Media has branched off to encourage a stronger focus on travel media and harness greater opportunities between media and tourism partners. Jennifer has a full appointment schedule, so we are looking forward to the media leads that Go Media will provide.

Jennifer will be returning to the region with two travel writers from the marketplace, representing China and Hong Kong. These writers will be escorted on an adventurous 4-day press trip through Vancouver, Coast & Mountain’s Sea to Sky Country, ending their stay in New Westminster.

The Go Media press trip is only one of several that will be occurring in the region for the month of June. Travel media visitors, writing on everything from attractions, to B&B’s, to Scuba diving, will be exploring the region, and hopefully generating a wide range of stories for our tourism partners. If you do happen to see any clippings in the media about your business (or your neighbouring tourism businesses!), please feel free to send a copy to Jennifer, she is always eager to receive them.

Please remember to continue to submit your story starters – thank you to everyone who submitted for the summer issues! The next call for submissions will be in July for the fall editions. Keep your eyes open for that!

Please feel free to contact Jennifer Huitema at 604-637-9046 or jennifer@vcmbc.com if you ever have any media questions or concerns.

Show Report

Kristi Wilson and Doleen Dean attended last month's Calgary Women's Show - a first time show for VCM. Traffic was relatively steady throughout this two day show, and similar to the Edmonton Women's Show, there was a line-up of women waiting to enter the show on Saturday morning.

As with other shows in the Alberta market, attendees were familiar with our destination. Some good trip planning took place, and we received many compliments on our spectacular new 10 X 20 booth display! Those who were interested were keen to take brochures, however we discovered we would have had even more success with collateral that was specifically geared towards 'Girls' Getaways". We are excited to return to Calgary in July to exhibit at the world-famous Calgary Stampede!

Kristi Wilson (second from right), Rebecca Vossepoel (far right) and staff from other RDMO's at the 2006 Toronto Outdoor Adventure Show.