On March 22nd, the Federal Budget was released. Below are a few highlights with respect to the tourism industry, as well as links to what national organizations such as the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) and the Hotel Association of Canada (HAC) are saying. Hospitality NL encourages you to review these federal budget analyses to learn of the many ways in which this Budget impacts you and your business.

• Making permanent the $37.5 million per year in temporary funding previously provided to Destination Canada, starting in 2018–19.
• Investments of $8.6 million over four years to support the development of Canada’s unique and authentic Indigenous tourism industry as well as the Aboriginal Tourism Association of Canada’s five-year Indigenous Tourism Strategy.
• The Government has also pledged an additional $13.6 million over 5 years to broaden Statistics Canada’s data collection capability, and $2.7 million in continuing funding after this period.
• The budget also includes significant investments to continue to manage Parks Canada and to complete the Trans-Canada Trail.
• Elimination of the GST/HST Tourist Rebate for Accommodations Portion of Tour Packages
• The government did not move to apply federal or provincial tax to short term rental companies, like Airbnb, at the platform level.
• New 2% tax on alcohol effective immediately
• Temporary Foreign Worker Program reforms will allow hoteliers to access the TFWs up to 20% of total work force, as opposed to current 10% cap on other non-seasonal industries.
• GST/HST will now be charged to the ride-sharing economy
• Some green measures were announced that could benefit sustainable-focused hotels

What HAC is saying >
http://www.hotelassociation.ca/reports/news%20releases/2017%20Federal%20Budget%20Analysis.pdf

What TIAC is saying >
http://tiac.travel/cgi/page.cgi/_zine.html/TopStories/TIAC_Reacts_to_the_Federal_Budget_Release