Merritt city council has tasked staff with exploring how to move ahead with a new hotel tax.

The proposed tax would be in the neighbourhood of 2% or 3%. Economic Development and Tourism Manager Will George says there is currently a volunteer tax in place but it is looking at making it mandatory for those businesses offering accommodations. “Council has directed staff on options to re-introduce the [Municipal and Regional District Hotel Tax] and look at what structures are out there. So, we’re looking at Kamloops, Vernon, a lot of different communities about how they implement the hotel tax, how they collect it and how those funds are distributed.” George says it would create additional revenue that the city can then use to explore new ways of attracting and retaining visitors to the community. “That ranges between $100,000 that could be collected all the way up to $300,000. It all depends on how many folks are staying and the room rates and everything like that. But, that’s sort of the ballpark.”

George says that additional revenue could be used on a number of tourism projects. “Marketing initiatives and promotion materials, creating videos to bring in more tourists to stay in hotels, extending the length of stay and engaging with visitors in their pre-trip, during-trip and post-trip on all avenues. We see a lot of people coming to Merritt for the music festival and in the summer so it would be focusing on the shoulder seasons and just a lot of that promotional material.”

George says it is looking to come back to council in April to discuss how to move forward with the proposed tax.