Share your opinion on current events or anything else affecting your world in our forum.
Our reaction to the words "tourism tax" usually resembles Bela Lugosi's cringing horror upon spying a silver cross on stage: Keep that disgusting thing away from us.
Not only did we buck the civic establishment in 1993 to help beat back a statewide tourism tax, we've delivered a ringing verbal wallop to the legislature every time since when it's sought to funnel general tax dollars into tourism promotion.
Our mantra on tourism: Let the private beneficiaries pay for their own advertising. They're not helpless.
That's still our mantra, by the way, but we're nevertheless supporting Issue 1A on Denver's municipal ballot, which would hike the city's hotel room tax from 13.85 percent to 14.85 percent. A contradiction? In the purest sense, perhaps, but there's also this important fact to consider: The hotels are the beneficiaries of tourism and they seem to want the tax. In some cases they're downright enthusiastic about the idea. Up to this point, in fact, there's been no public opposition whatever from the hotel industry.
Such consensus didn't exist a few months ago when the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau began talking up the idea of hiking both the lodger's tax and the tax on rental cars to raise funds to promote tourism. Some rental car companies denounced the idea because they cater to in-state customers and felt the higher tax would hurt business. So the bureau listened, retooled its proposal, and returned with the lodger's tax alone. It makes sense for a number of reasons.
The levy will boost the convention bureau's budget by more than 40 percent. The bureau does a pretty good job already of reminding major trade groups of Denver's attractions, but the challenge is ballooning beyond its capacity with the expanded convention center and the increasing number of downtown hotel rooms. If the convention center can be booked solid and hotel rooms kept full, the hospitality industry will thrive not just in Denver but in the entire region.
The tax will be paid overwhelmingly by non-residents, who are used to similar levies in other major markets. Even with this hike, Denver's hotel tax won't edge into the top 25 nationally.
Tourism is critically important to the regional economy - and not only to the hotels and restaurants that are its most obvious beneficiaries. Even Denver's cultural attractions such as the art museum and theaters rely upon visitors to maintain their health.
This is cache, read story here