Hospitality Sask. opposes potential new fees to fund Saskatoon arena

A possible arena coming to Saskatoon’s downtown could mean new fees for tourists and ticket holders.

On Wednesday, a city committee will be presented with a report from tax and audit firm KPMG outlining five potential non-property-tax options which could help generate millions of dollars in revenue for the project.

The report suggests fees could be added to tickets, along with new fees for those staying in hotels or renting cars in the city.

Jim Bence, president and CEO of Hospitality Saskatchewan, said new fees on the tourism industry wouldn’t be good for business, especially with the sector still recovering after a difficult couple of years.

“For decades, we’ve been very strongly opposed to giving municipalities any additional taxation authority that’s specific to the tourism or accommodation industry,” Bence explained.

“It’s been pretty tough (for our industry) since the pandemic, and with everything that’s happened in the last year with inflation, we’re doing everything to encourage people to travel. Anytime there’s additional pieces that get layered on, we’re concerned that could impact consumer spending.”

Bence said he’s supportive of a new arena, but adding a new tax to pay for it could be a slippery slope.

“Any money that’s paid for by the hospitality or accommodation industry should go into marketing for putting heads in beds for overnight stays,” Bence explained.

“We know from experience across North America that accommodation taxes just end up going into the general revenue fund, so that’s where we have some serious issues with it.”

According to Bence, the only added fee on some hotels right now is a destination and marketing fee, which goes towards promoting the hotels or municipalities in order to boost tourism.

With new fees potentially looming on the horizon, Bence said his organization doesn’t want to see hotel bills look like airline tickets with dozens of different fees tacked on.

“That’s what we’re trying to stay away from,” he said.

According to the report, more work still needs to be done on arena funding before new fees would be applied. A full report is expected to be presented to city council in early 2024.