Nova Scotia Comes Alive in 2011!

The Wacky Tourist Tax Rebate of the Canadian Government

A year-and-a-half ago the Canadian government canceled it’s time-honored tax rebate system which gave money back to tourists enjoying our country. A government spokesman said at the time that the program’s cancellation will save $78.8 million a year and went on to justify it on the grounds that only 3% of visitors ever claimed it.

The tourism operators cried foul as the bean-counters were being very selective about their figures. They contend that “the savings figure only includes GST/HST refunds processed by the federal Visitor Rebate Centre and duty-free shops, and does not take into account the program’s importance to Canada’s volume inbound markets.” So, in essence, the true applications for rebates from foreign travelers was more like 11%, or around the same figure as many other countries. Tour operators and convention planners, however, school their clients so almost 100% of the tour-bound visitors got their money back.

It is no surprise to anyone who has watched the Canadian dollar rise to par with the mighty U.S. greenback that the once-healthy Canadian tourism industry is like a boxer on shaky legs. With a substantial decline in visitation from the United States, Canada’s biggest tourism market (which in fact was almost 28% lower in 2005 than in 2000) fingers are also being pointed at rising fuel prices, the new document requirements (passports)for the border and flights back into the U.S. pitiful national tourism marketing effort and confusion about the new Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative documentation requirements which requires passports for flights into the U.S.

The Foreign Convention and Tour Incentive Program (FCTIP) now provides rebates to people taking tours into Canada, which relieves the toru industry somewhat. However, the rebates to individuals took place on April 1, 2007 (April Fool’s Day) and it doesn’t look like any of that is coming back.

So, it looks like the FIT (Free-Independent Traveler) is out of luck unless something has come down the pike in the past month that we haven’t heard. If you know anything more, please let me know.