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HARRISON HOT SPRINGS – The Village of Harrison Hot Springs is the latest community to sign a Resort Municipality Revenue Sharing
agreement with the Province, allowing it to share a portion of the hotel room
tax to invest in local resort-oriented projects and programs, Community
Services Minister Ida Chong announced.
“This agreement provides the Village with the
capacity to initiate and fund local projects and amenities that will attract a
greater number of visitors and encourage them to stay longer in the community,”
said Chong. “Harrison Hot Springs is the latest resort community to sign an
agreement with the Province, which is
transferring millions of dollars to resort communities, helping to make them
even more attractive places to live and visit.”
Under this agreement, it is estimated that Harrison
Hot Springs will receive $1.65 million over five years. The funding will assist with the creation of a
Plaza and Lakeshore promenade with boardwalks, walkways, enhanced landscaping
and circulation systems to enhance beach water quality. These funds will also
help in the renewal of the Village centre, the creation of festivals and
events, including enhancements to the Harrison Hot Springs Sand Sculpture
Festival, and new park and trail developments, including the Miami River
Greenway trail connector.
“We are very excited about this agreement,”
said Harrison Hot Springs Mayor
Leo Facio. “It gives us the ability to enhance the tourism infrastructure we
need to keep growing while at the same time develop the resources we need to
service both our residents and our increasing tourist population.”
Under the program, an eligible community
receives a share of the provincial hotel room tax, an amount based on a formula
that takes into account the level of tourist accommodation in the community,
relative to other B.C. communities. To be eligible, municipalities must have
tourism-based economies or be designated as a “mountain resort municipality”
under the Local Government Act.
Communities must be prepared to put in place an
additional two per cent hotel room tax, prepare a Resort Development Strategy
that reflects the input of stakeholders, and enter into a five-year
results-based tourism development agreement that sets out what will be achieved
through revenue sharing.
To date, Whistler, Golden, Rossland and
Radium Hot Springs have reached similar agreements with the Province; eight
other municipalities are currently eligible to enter into agreements: Fernie,
Invermere, Kimberley, Osoyoos, Revelstoke, Tofino, Ucluelet and Valemount. The Resort
Municipality Revenue Sharing program is part of the Province’s ongoing
commitment to meeting the goal of doubling B.C. tourism by 2015.
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Ministry of Community Services 250 356-6334 |
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For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca. |
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