Canada´s Hotel Industry Lashes Out at Governmental Budget

The Hotel Association of Canada has blasted the Stephen Harper Government for its lack of support of the Hotel, Travel and Tourism industry in the budget tabled.

In meetings with Ministers and pre-budget consultations the Hotel Association of Canada had advocated an additional federal investment of $100 million in the Canadian Tourism Commission, the crown corporation responsible for promoting Canada.

This investment would have resulted in a $620 million return on investment for government according to Grant Thornton Consulting; however, no additional funds were announced.

“We are extremely disappointed in the Minister´s Budget”, stated Tony Pollard, President of the Hotel Association of Canada, “Particularly at this time when trips to Canada by Americans are running at a 25-year low according to Statistics Canada and with the dollar at 90 cents (US) and now predicted to be at par in 2007. This is extremely bad news for Canadian tourism as it encourages Canadians to travel outside the country and discourages visits by Americans.”

In the FH Canada Research survey conducted for the Hotel Association of Canada, three out of every four Canadians say they would favor the federal government spending more money to attract travelers from other countries to Canada.

The survey was conducted with 2007 adult Canadians by Fleishman -Hillard Canada Research about their leisure and business travel as well as opinions on current issues affecting travel in Canada.