Tourism P.G. Looking Forward to Positive New Year

Wednesday, December 22, 2010 03:49 AM

Prince George B.C.- When 2010 comes to a close, it will mark the end of the first full year of operations for the Tourism Prince George Society as an independent Destination Marketing Organization for the city and region.

In its first year, Tourism Prince George notes a number of tourism plusses in its first year, including, Prince George’s successful bid for the 2015 Canada Winter Games, the Elton John concert and the International Bioenergy and Minerals North conference.

Additional visitor traffic in the city has been reflected in increases in passenger volumes at the Prince George Airport, hotel occupancy rates and room revenues (up 4.2% at the end of October, up 3.0% in the first three quarters and up

12.0% in the first half of the year, respectively).

As Tourism Prince George’s activities are funded by an Additional Hotel Room Tax, the continued growth in the accommodation sector activities increases the amount of funds available to Tourism Prince George. Those dollars will be used to promote tourism in the region.

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Posted on Wednesday, December 22, 2010 03:49 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: He spoke on December 22 2010 8:09 AM

The real test to this taxation and results are in three to four years from now. Lets see if they remain focused and dedicated to the original objectives.

Posted by: faxman on December 22 2010 8:09 AM

I booked a hotel room in PG a couple of weekends ago but I canceled it when I saw the room taxes. I have to wonder how many other people have done the same?

Posted by: Palopu on December 22 2010 8:24 AM

We have thousands of people that come to Prince George every month to shop etc; Especially people from West of Prince George, and Mcbride, MacKenzie. They of course stay at the Hotels, and Motels, however I would suggest that they could hardly be called Tourists in the true sense of the word. So in essence we are taxing people who in some ways are the mainstay of the City business's.

Take away these people from your tourist numbers and you end up with diddly squat for Tourists to Prince George.

On another note I notice that the Price of Lumber is over $305.00 per 1000FBM this morning. If it stays there for a while it will eliminate the 15% export tax, and should make some good profits for the lumber companies. This is a good news story for this area.

Have a nice day.

Posted by: zyblxteu on December 22 2010 8:46 AM

Do they come too smell this hole in the ground!Jus what is the attraction??
Railway museum?

Posted by: gus on December 22 2010 9:48 AM

Railway museum? That place is closed for holidays, the prime time they should be open.

And, speaking of railways. One of the attractions is the railway at The Exploration Place. That has not been working for 2 or 3 years now. Still advertised in literature. Time to fix it or take it off the tourist info.

I agree, only Germans and French should be classified as tourists. The Brits are virtually BC residents ... and those travelling through to Alaska are just that, travelling through.

Prince George needs to develop our own definition for what a tourist is. Who cares about skewing the count just because we don't follow standards.

And now, with OZ not coming to town, there will be even less people touring through here.

Posted by: gus on December 22 2010 9:51 AM

Believe me, when coming from Hixon, Fraser Lake, Burns Lake, Houston, Kitwanga, Dease Lake, Cranberry Junction and so on, there are far too many attractions. People get totally confused and have been seen to go through the Casino rotary until they are totally dizzy.

Posted by: gus on December 22 2010 10:26 AM

I stayed in Vancouver last week.

Hotel room - $149
Room tax 2% - $2.98
HST 12% - $18.24

Total cost - $170.22

That is the cost of tax on a room in almost any larger city in BC.

Note that the HST is also charged on the room tax. HST on $149 would otherwise be $17.88. So the government takes another 36 cents worth of flesh.

Before the switch to HST, the room tax in Vancouver was 10% (7+3) with a GST of 5%, thus 15% tax total. The same in Kamloops.

Now the tax combination works out to 14.24%

So, refuse all you like. Them's the facts o' life in BC.

Los Angeles - hotel room tax is 14%
Argentina - 21% VAT on hotel rooms

So, stay 20% fewer nights .... and see the tourism industry suffer .... :-)

Posted by: mwk on December 22 2010 6:35 PM

It's good to see that the tourism numbers are going up.

But I can't see it getting any better with the current landscape. We need to offer:

1. Nice hotels. Other than the casino, ramada, 4 points, and now the sandman are there enough nice hotels? The coast, best western and others could do a lot to make their hotels nicer and more inviting to would be tourists.

2. Tourist Attractions. Why don't we have the train at exploration place in working order? Pretty sad I would say. How about something to do at the malls. There isn't any activities at the Pine Centre mall other than....shopping. Put in a mini-golf area in the middle just like West Edmonton Mall does. Fairly cheap attraction if you ask me.

3. Nice Restaurants. Some of the restaurants are good, but do you think tourists are coming from out of town just to hit one of our restaurants? I doubt it. It's fairly good food but it's not extra-ordinary.

Let's think positive, maybe some of this stuff might happen.

3.

Posted by: supertech on December 22 2010 9:37 PM

If there was more tourism, (which I doubt) is Tourism Prince George claiming the victory? I also doubt any truth to that. The winter games are going to be a big waste of money and I'm sure Tourism PG won't be claiming after that it was thier doing.

Posted by: Harbinger on December 23 2010 11:39 AM

PG. Eat here, get gas, move on.

Posted by: RFM on December 23 2010 3:20 PM

CELEBRATION OF LIGHTS

December 18th to 24th, 2010 inclusive

Come and celebrate the season with the Railway and Forestry Museum! SANTA IS WAITING FOR YOU!! Enjoy our beautiful Christmas village, hot chocolate and roasting hot dogs and s’mores around a bonfire, ice skating and rides on the Cottonwood Railway (weather permitting).

Sneak Preview of the Celebration of Lights is Tuesday, November 30th from 4 to 8 p.m. Admission to the Sneak Preview is free with a donation a non perishable food item to the Prince George Salvation Army Food Bank.

Don’t forget to shop for a unique gift for that special person! Open special Christmas hours, December 18 to December 24, 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.