Facing pushback, tourism officials say voluntary assessment remains critical

Whitefish tourism officials say a voluntary assessment created to promote travel here during the off-season is still critical to that goal and also supports messaging of responsible tourism.

The Tourism Promotion Assessment — or TPA — is a 1% fee added to the cost of a guest room or restaurant bill and the funds are used by the Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau. Payment is voluntary and it can be removed from a bill.

As visitors numbers have increased dramatically last and this summer, some have raised questions about the purpose of the assessment and whether it should continue.

Nancy Schuber, in a letter to the editor and at a recent City Council meeting, has come forward raising the issue of whether the TPA should continue to exist.

“The purpose of the TPA is no longer valid,” she told Council. “One of the most compelling reasons to end this is that businesses are short-staffed and must close at critical times. This does not leave a favorable impression with our visitors.”

“Most residents are surprised and then angry to find out they have been paying for tourism promotion,” she added. “Most community members feel we have surpassed the sustainable level for tourism.”

Schuber argues that claims that the TPA helps to maintain quality of life here are not accurate. She suggested a moratorium on collecting the assessment or redirecting it to other areas such as for affordable housing.

While the city established the WCVB and it does approve a portion of the bureau’s budget that comes from bed tax collections, City Council doesn’t control its operations or the TPA. The WCVB includes 130 members and about 50 collect the assessment.

The WCVB, also known as Explore Whitefish, was created as a nonprofit in 2006 to promote tourism in the fall, winter and spring. More recently, the WCVB partnered with the City of Whitefish to develop the sustainable tourism plan and launched the Be a Friend of the Fish visitor education campaign this spring.

Mariah Joos, who is the board chair of the WCVB and also the owner of Nelson’s Ace Hardware, says what’s happening right now is a perfect storm between a surge of new residents during the pandemic and increased visitation.

“I’m feeling the same pressures as my neighbors,” she said. “The tight housing market affects my ability to staff and run my business. As a consumer, I’m also frustrated with the number of people in town and how hard it is to patronize other businesses.”

Joos points out that Explore Whitefish for several years now has been moving in the direction of destination stewardship with the goal of actively managing visitors through education campaigns asking visitors to take care of the town rather than just visiting here.

According to the WCVB, there were about 610,200 visitors who spent at least one night in Whitefish in 2020. For comparison, in 2018 about 661,200 visitors spent at least one night here.

Rhonda Fitzgerald, an owner of the Garden Wall Inn and board member for WCVB, says the goal of Explore Whitefish has always been to promote visitation during non-summer months to keep businesses open year-round.

“Whitefish doesn’t want to be a hollowed-out town that’s closed the rest of the year,” she said. “While businesses are busy during the summer, during October and May we just get by. If we truly want to be sustainable we need to have year-round visitors by evening out the spike in visitation.”

Occupancy rates at hotels nationally average about 70%, but in Whitefish the rate is about 50% throughout the year, she noted.

This spring the WCVB launched the Be a Friend of the Fish campaign aimed at providing a message for sustainable tourism. The campaign came out of the sustainable tourism management plan that was created by the WCVB and the city.

The campaign asks visitors to follow community values by recreating responsibility, showing respect and kindness and enjoying the slower pace of life here by also slowing down when driving and having patience during busy times.

Brian Schott, who handles public relations for the WCVB, said there remains misunderstanding about what Explore Whitefish is doing in terms of visitor education. Schott pointed out that when Good Morning America began looking at coming here for a segment this spring, the WCVB didn’t want the show to promote summer travel here but instead worked with producers of the show to send a message about responsible tourism.

“We crafted a story to create a vision of Whitefish and of responsible recreation and of taking care of the place,” he said. “We want visitors who come here to take care of the place. All we focus on right now is sustainability, we are not promoting Whitefish.”