GoCanes

I think the weaker dollar will hurt Canada a lot more in terms of tourism... although I agree it is good for Canadians and maybe a weaker dollar is good for the US in terms of more Canadian tourists coming here.

Christian

It's the US passport requirements, and their penchant for 'requiring' other countries to meet their 'requirements' that will kill Canadian tourism.
The dollar hurts canadian tourist operators for sure, but the whole passport/inspection/harassment policy will kill it all...

YVR Cockroach

If anything, it'll at least give the tourism industry a swift boot in the pants to diversify away from the U.S. market.

YVR Cockroach

It's gone down already. Arrivals from the U.S. has been going down year on year since the USD peaked in early 2003 (guess U.S. visitors aere very sensitive to exchange rates). The passport issue may further the decrease.

I posted a link to some thread but don't remember where it was.

However, a wealth of stats can be gotten by searching starting at this page: http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/links.asp#tourism

I find this link telling:

The report is for 2007Q1 so the number of U.S. tourists has decrease by over 1/4 since 2004Q3.

Jay71

Yes, I can't see the reduction of purchases because of the loss of the rebate causing a major hit. However, definitely, American visits to Canada likely will suffer due to the changing strengths of our dollar. On the reverse, in past years, we only did the odd trip to the States and you'd likely have to twist my arm to go. But of late, it seems like we're doing day/weekend trips more often. The reason you have to twist my arm now is because the border waits are killer (need to get a NEXUS card).
The new security/passport security restrictions are also likely to hurt both directions.

toadman

But they paid a tax for the right to land in Canada. If they bought gas, they paid a tax for that too. They also paid a tax for the hotel they stayed at that funds your sports stadiums and other public infrastructure improvements. And besides VAT on food was not reimbursable, nor were items like movie tickets or other goods and services not taken directly out of the country.


Spoken like a true ambassador to your country. What happens when all those tourist dollars dry up that provide jobs and tax money that is only of marginal benefit to a tourist but provides huge standard of living improvements to Canadians. I for one love traveling to Canada and abide by Canadian rules when I visit. But I was also upset by lack of public disclosure of the repealing of the VAT refund. For the record many EU countries such as Germany and Italy offer refunds on VAT for certain goods. I for one buy less when I'm up in Canada these days. But I'm less inclined to buy now that the Canadian dollar is so strong and the price of Canadian goods is so high compared to the same goods here in the states. One reason why so many Canadians come to the Outlet Malls here in WA.

YVR Cockroach

Thre's no specific hotel tax to fund any sports stadium here (unlike many U.S. jurisdictions with all sorts of taxes likely to be imposed on visitors only) - just the usual taxes and a tourism tax of 3% IIRC. The GST portion of the hotel tax used to be refundable.


That's probably the main reason for not spending in Canada, not tax rebates or the lack thereof.

However, these refunds usually require fairly high minimum value, same day purchases at individual shops, and can come with pretty hefty service charges. Good perhaps if you are spending a lot at one shop on the same day but not so good if you spend only a little bit as the refund is generally negligible.

ABG

OMG, get real. What did you want, a letter from her Majesty's representative the Governor General advising Joe Blow USA about our tax policy?

We will miss you GoCanes... but life will go on.

Actually, you were only ever able to claim back 7%. We actually lowered that 7% tax to 6% and then cut out the rebate for toursits. A simple google search would have shown you as much: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/visitors/

ABG

Uh... the fact that your currency has drop about 40% vs ours will greatly outway the negative impact on toursim. We can close a few stores, but will gladly accept cars at 30% less cost than 5 years ago (yes car prices are dropping for anyone who isn't up to date). The US fiscal policy of spend spend spend is hurting you guys way more than us and it will take years to fix.

GoCanes

Actually some notice would have been appropriate - at least at the tourist information centers or entering the country at the border. Just a little notice is all I ask... is that asking for too much? Don't need a letter, but an information pamphlet or sign would have been pleasant. I mean, you spent all that money posting multiple signs at duty free that we need to remember our license plate number, but putting up a temporary sign that the tax rebate was repealed is just way to demanding. At least the US and its airports are trying and investigating ways to make things easier for tourists given the increase security.

And there is no way you can defend the various merchants from still promoting a defunct rule. And I knew it was only 7% back, but that still does not mean that 15% is a pretty high sales tax rate.

And as for a simple google search, well I did not even think of looking up whether the tax rebate was still in effect prior to departure. In fact, it was not until I returned home that when I went to download the paperwork did I learn about it. And even then, the information is not very clear and is a little tough to find (ie. you have to look at recent news). Just goes to show how little Canada really values its tourists... but judging from local responses on here, the Canadian government is well in tune with the interests of their people... we don't like US tourists.

azepine00

This seems like a really minor issue to me.

Canada has always been an expensive country for shopping, even when US $ was strong (I lived there and almost every single store item was more expensive there than in US) - so I really can not imagine the rebate being a huge deal. How much does one have to spend to justify the effort needed to claim a meaningful rebate amount?

An advanced notice would be nice and stores should be more upfront about this but changing your travel plans because of this??? Rules change all the time in Canada, US, China or anywhere else - it's a part of life.

Enjoy the place - I spent two wonderful weekends this summer in Vancouver and Toronto and there was plenty of great food, pleasant weather and reasonable travel options. ^

ABG

Duty Free stores are owned by private business... not the government. Airport security effects everyone, visitor tax rebates effect a small number of people. The government claimed they processed only 30 million in refunds a year, pretty small amount.

Room tax in NYC is pushing 14%.... don't go there! If you live your life afraid of how much everything costs you won't really do much, now will you?

YVR Cockroach

It's not disliking U.S. tourists but some of us think the industry was (maybe still is) overdependent on them.

Taker Park

I'm very pleased to have found this thread. I only get to Canada once a year now and this year, I'll be spending a lot less money outside of the duty free shop.

New Orleans used to refund sales tax before Hurricane Katrina, but I don't know if they are planning to keep that or not.

Merchants in the US, especially stores like Best Buy or Gucci like to tell people that they'll get their tax back at the airport just so they can make the sale.

GoCanes

I am glad I was able to get the word out to you.

As for Best Buy, that is an interesting piece of information. Maybe I'll have to forward it on to a friend in the NY AG's office for investigation.