Why Is A Garage Door Guy Paying To Market Banff?

A recent Bow Valley Insider reader poll showing strong opposition to Banff businesses helping fund tourism marketing has sparked new debate over how Banff & Lake Louise Tourism (BLLT) is funded and where those business licence fees actually go.

A poll conducted by Bow Valley Insider found 84% of 220 respondents opposed the current system, where portions of business licence fees collected by the Town of Banff help fund BLLT.

The poll followed earlier reporting comparing business licence costs in Banff and Canmore. One Canmore-based garage door repair contractor said he pays $150 for a business licence in Canmore and $1,231.48 for a non-resident business licence in Banff.

Many poll responses questioned why businesses that are not directly tied to tourism should help pay for tourism marketing. Others argued Banff already receives enough visitors and no longer needs additional promotion.

In response, Christie Pashby, director of public affairs for BLLT, said some of the criticism may stem from confusion about where most of the organization’s funding comes from.

“Banff & Lake Louise Tourism is the organization responsible for marketing Banff and Lake Louise to visitors and is funded predominantly, about 85%, by a destination marketing fee collected from visitors, not from businesses,” Pashby said.

In Banff, that fee is called the Tourism Improvement Fee (TIF). It is a 2% charge added to hotel and accommodation bills in Banff and Lake Louise.

For example, a visitor staying in a Banff hotel room costing $300 before tax would pay an additional $6 Tourism Improvement Fee. According to BLLT, these visitor-paid TIF fees make up most of the organization’s funding.

The Town of Banff, however, said business licence fees, separate from the TIF, still remain an important part of how BLLT is funded, with local businesses required to obtain a municipal business licence to operate in Banff.

“The Town of Banff collects the fees from all BLLT members through the business licence fee. 98% of the business licence fee is provided to BLLT for the destination services,” said Jason Darrah, communications director for the Town of Banff.

Darrah later clarified that the 98% figure refers to the overall total collected through Banff’s business licensing system, not to each individual business licence fee.

“When you add up all fees collected for business licences from all businesses, about 98% goes to BLLT, not 98% of each business’s fee,” Darrah said.

He said different business categories pay different fee structures under the Town’s business licence bylaw, with some businesses exempt from fees and others, including many non-resident businesses, still paying tourism marketing fees.

Pashby said the Town keeps portions of business licence fees for administration, while only the “Schedule B” portion, an additional fee applied to many tourism-related business sectors, flows to BLLT.

Under the Schedule B structure, businesses in sectors such as restaurants, retail, transportation, attractions and services pay additional fees that support BLLT membership and tourism marketing.

Pashby said that while a significant portion of some individual licence payments may go toward tourism marketing, most of BLLT’s overall funding still comes from visitor-paid hotel fees.

“In 2024, BLLT received about $14 million from its main funding sources and reported total revenues of about $17 million,” Pashby said.

Still, BLLT acknowledged business licence fees remain a significant cost for some businesses, particularly non-resident businesses operating in Banff.

“For the contractor profiled in your original article, 57.8% of his total licence fee goes to BLLT and 42.2% is retained by the Town,” Pashby said.

Using that same $1,231.48 licence example, approximately $711 would go to BLLT while roughly $520 would remain with the Town.

That means while most of BLLT’s funding comes from visitor-paid hotel fees, a large share of some individual business licence payments can still support tourism marketing.

The contractor referenced in the earlier reporting operates as a non-resident business from Canmore, meaning he pays under a different fee structure than many Banff-based BLLT member businesses.

The debate has increasingly centred on whether non-tourism service businesses operating from outside Banff should contribute toward tourism marketing through the current licensing structure.

The Town and BLLT also disagreed on whether Banff’s business licence costs would otherwise be similar to Canmore’s without the tourism agreement.

“If the Town of Banff did not have an agreement with the BLLT agency, with the Town facilitating its funding, the business licence fee in Banff and Canmore would be comparable,” Darrah said.

BLLT disputed that claim.

“The ‘comparable’ claim is wrong,” Pashby said.

Pashby said Banff’s base business licence fees for contractors are approximately 73% higher than Canmore’s even before Schedule B fees are added, while some larger retail businesses in Canmore pay significantly more.

She also said Banff’s $260 non-resident charge is less than half of Canmore’s $600 fee.

The debate comes as Alberta prepares to introduce new province-wide rules governing tourism marketing fees. Alberta’s new Traveller Protection and Destination Development Act will come into effect Jan. 1, 2027.

The legislation will create new rules for how tourism marketing fees are collected and managed in places like Canmore and Kananaskis.

While Banff’s long-established tourism funding model is expected to remain largely unchanged, BLLT said it is reviewing its funding structure with members, the Town of Banff and its board of directors as the organization prepares for the provincial changes.

“A funding review is currently under way,” Pashby said.