Anaheim, hotels agree to divert some tourism funds toward workforce housing

 Tourism taxes of various sorts, on hotel room rentals, rental cars, restaurant meals, etc., are collected and depending on the locality, in their entirety are used to promote tourism, may contribute to a community's general fund, and in some exceptional and creative uses, to support a multi-faceted approach to the tourism economy and its local effects, one of which is the increased price of housing, making it much harder for workers to live close by.

Anaheim is a leader in allowing tourism taxes to be used for housing ("Anaheim, hotels agree to divert some tourism funds toward workforce housing," Orange County Register).

By contrast the State of Utah stated that Grant County's use of the tourism tax revenue stream to support tourism support services like salaries for trail ambassadors is unsupportable ("County eyes $1M in reimbursements to resolve tourism tax dispute," Times-Independent).  

The tax, collected from overnight visitors at hotels, campgrounds and vacation rentals, is used to promote tourism, support recreation and film production, fund convention meeting rooms and museums and help manage the impacts of tourism on local communities.

A significant portion of the proposed corrections involves the Moab Trail Ambassador Program. Operated by Grand County Active Transportation and Trails (GCATT), the program stations seasonal staff at popular recreation sites to educate visitors, distribute supplies, monitor trail conditions and promote responsible trail use.

... In a 2024 audit, the state auditor’s office found multiple issues with Grand County’s use of tourism tax funds — including the use of TRT promotion funds to pay Trail Ambassador salaries in 2021 and 2022. The office said the ambassadors’ work, which they reduced to “providing water and encouraging tourists to stay on trails” as mitigation rather than promotion and said their salaries should have come from the mitigation category instead.

To me it indicates the regulations around the use of the tourism tax revenue stream are flawed.  But intriguing over the difference between "promotion" and "mitigation."

Solvang's Covid Christmas

Sometimes we watch sappy Hallmark Christmas movies, about one in eight is somewhat decent.  A month or two ago there was one about Solvang, a town about 30 miles north of Santa Barbara, California.  

-- "A very charming Christmas town," Santa Ynez Valley Star

Solvang's "unique selling proposition" is that the architectural style of the central business district is Old Dutch style, although they say it's Danish, and as a result it's a big tourist destination.

As we know, the pandemic has decimated retail and hospitality businesses generally ("Pandemic Closures Devastate Restaurant Industry’s Middle Class," New York Times), small business ("COVID-19 devastated California’s small businesses. Here are three that didn’t survive," Los Angeles Times), commercial districts specifically, and tourism especially ("IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK ON INTERNATIONAL TOURISM," UNWTO; "The pandemic is hurting tourism," Baltimore Sun).

Because the Republican Senate is resistant to most forms of financial support for these types of businesses and destinations, they're hurting.  Many thousands of businesses have shut their doors, and in these sectors, unemployment is rampant.

A result, many businesses and tourist destinations are pushed to stay open in the face of inadequate federal assistance -- states and localities are providing some assistance beyond that of the federal government, but with budget issues of their own, it's not enough.

Even though we know that it's a bad idea because of the prevalence of the coronavirus.  The Sturgis motorcycle rally is but one example of event tourism being a bad idea right now ("How the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally may have spread coronavirus across the Upper Midwest," Washington Post).

Eating in restaurants, being indoors for long periods of time, etc., are really bad ideas.

So when I saw an article ("A small tourist town is refusing to comply with California's shutdown. It may not be the only one," San Francisco Chronicle) that Solvang is defying covid restriction orders, because of economic desperation, I thought, that's not a movie you're going to see on Hallmark...

(US) National Travel and Tourism Week, 2019: May 5th-11th

-- National Travel and Tourism Week 2019 Theme: “Travel Matters”, US Travel Association

According to the press release:

This year’s theme is “Travel Matters,” a recognition of the innumerable ways in which travel enriches lives and strengthens communities. Each day of NTTW will spotlight a different example of why travel matters to America (we’ll reveal these daily topics in the weeks ahead).

While the theme is how travel strengthens communities, I've read some interesting articles about over-tourism and touristification lately, although most of the examples are not from the US.

1.  It turns out that while I know about the European Capital of Culture, Green Capital, and Youth Capital programs, I didn't know about the new European Capitals of Smart Tourism program, which launched this year with Helsinki.

-- Smart Tourism Capital 2019, My Helsinki
-- Helsinki's Preliminary Programme of Activities as 2019 European Capital of Smart Tourism

Park Guell has been so overrun by tourists that the city instituted admissions fees with timed tickets.

2.  Great article about the impact of Airbnb and overtourism and touristification on Barcelona, "The Airbnb Invasion of Barcelona," New Yorker.

It supports the general recommendations I make about these services:

- require that the stays pay the equivalent of hotel taxes, although the rate could be scaled by type of use (e.g., lower for a room shared as part of an owner-occupied dwelling, more for a whole house rental)
- set a limit on how many "whole house" units can be part of such programs, at the city and neighborhood scales.  Zero may be appropriate, depending.
- consider allowing only fractional participation, in other words, the primary owner/tenant lives there still and only some rooms are available for paid-for accommodations
- make absolutely illegal the conversion of rental buildings into ersatz Airbnb hotels.

I think for the most part, the big problems are in cities with hyper-strong real estate markets and hyper-strong tourism--places like Barcelona or San Francisco or New York as opposed to Chicago or Baltimore--although even so strong submarkets within otherwise weaker markets may require more careful regulation on this basis.

3.  The New Yorker article mentions a new alternative to Airbnb called Fairbnb, which aims to promote more sustainable tourism, connections between visitors and the communities they visit, and a funding stream for local projects derived from the fees paid to Fairbnb.

It's a form of both sustainable tourism and civic tourism.

The problem with tourists as louts come from there being (at least) two types of tourists using such options.  The first type is a cultural tourist who wants to experience the local community.  The second type are people who are motivated by saving money and believe that since they are paying guests, they should be able to do whatever they want.

The article also makes good points about the homogenization of urban communities as a result.  As communities no longer have a critical mass of residents, the retail and restaurant offer shifts away from a local focus.

Years ago charlie mentioned this kind of phenomenon as a negative byproduct of the creation of a network of global cities/global neighborhoods. (See the section "The Tourist City within the Framework of Neoliberalism" in "Barcelona, Housing Rent Bubble in a Tourist City. Social Responses and Local Policies," Sustainability, 10: 2018.)

Laguna Beach, California does have a zoning use category overlay for retail that in some places specifies "neighborhood serving" retail as opposed to tourist-oriented retail.  But ultimately, without residents, locally oriented retail withers.

4.  It's not news that Venice has real issues from overtourism ("Sinking city: how Venice is managing Europe's worst tourism crisis," Guardian).  The article discusses the concept of tourist carrying capacity for communities.  When that number is exceeded there is a problem.  Calculating that number is a required first step.

According to Reuters ("Italy's Venice to charge admission fees for tourists"), Venice gets 25 million tourists each year, of which 14 million stay one day or less.  The city recently voted to impose a visitation fee. This year it will be €3. Next year the fee will rise to €6 - €10 depending on the season. From the article:

Venice’s population has declined rapidly in recent decades from roughly 175,000 after World War Two to about 50,000 today. Remaining residents complain bitterly that their city is being overrun by tourists while they have to pick up the bill for cleaning and security.

The city council has not spelt out exactly how they will collect the money at first, but Brugnaro has suggested that eventually the transport companies bringing in visitors will add the amount to the cost of the ticket.

Exempted from the fee will be tourists who spend the night in local hotels, which already apply visitor taxes to their rates, and children under the age of six.

According to "Squatters occupy Venice homes in housing protest as tourism surges," Venice has more than 8,000 units rented out via home sharing services like Airbnb, and it's difficult, regardless of income, for residents to find places to rent.

Half of the Rialto Market's stalls are empty, and 2 of the remaining 9 stalls are for sale. Wall Street Journal photo.

Another example of how the decline of residents affects the ability of locally-focused businesses to survive is the historic Rialto Fish Market ("Historic Venice fish market fights for survival as local shoppers are replaced by snap-happy tourists," Telegraph).  This is a problem with public markets in other cities too.  While tourist magnets, visitors aren't buying food to be cooked later.

-- Campaign for a Living Venice

5.  The Guardian article mentions Airdna, a business-to-business website on the home sharing market--not just Airbnb listings.

You can drill down into a city's data listings for a neighborhood.

For example, Capitol Hill in DC, when I looked at it, had 963 active rentals; Petworth, 211; and 90 in my neighborhood of Manor Park).  You have to subscribe to be able to drill down into the analytics.  But it's fascinating nonetheless.

Home sharing options in Petworth as mapped by Airdna

Visitors take photos of wildflowers in Phacelia Field north of Traver Ranch in the Carrizo Plain National Monument in San Luis Obispo County. Kristen Vassaur.

6.  With the burst of wildflowers a couple months ago in California leading to all kinds of terrible behavior by people wanting to take photos recently in the news ("Wildflower crowds trespass, bring traffic to Carrizo Plain," San Luis Obispo Tribune), it's not a surprise that the Netherlands has the same problem with tulips ("The Netherlands Protects Its Precious Tulip Fields From Instagramming Tourists," Taxi).

7. There's also the rise in selfie related deaths in tourist locations of danger ("Tourists could be saved by 'selfie seats' at dangerous hot spots," New York Post).

8.  And the National Park Service has problems with overtourism at the Statue of Liberty and the Ellis Island Museum of Immigration, so they've banned tour groups ("Everyone's Welcome at the Statue of Liberty. Except Tour Guides," New York Times) because the size of the groups bollixes up the system.


Brian Maffly | The Salt Lake Tribune. Money raised by Grand County's hotel room tax pays for ads like this on the side of UTA bus in Salt Lake City, pictured on April 19, 2019. With Moab crammed with tourists, some community leaders believe the time has come to spend this revenue in other ways, but state law requires nearly half to be spent on "tourism promotion."

9.  The Utah State Tourism Office's campaign promoting the state's national parks is verging on being too successful ("Utah Spending Million Promoting Mighty 5 National Parks," Public News Service; "Collaboration is key to preserving the national park experience," Utah Law).

Two of the state's "Mighty 5" national parks are near Moab, Arches and Canyonlands.  The Salt Lake Tribune has a couple of pieces about the impact of tourists on Moab, which is reaching a critical point.

-- "Moab is drowning in tourists, and Utah is making Grand County spend millions a year to invite more"
-- "Gehrke: Moab has a tourism problem. Here's a solution"

They discuss how communities such as Moab want to be able to harvest the tourism tax revenue stream (there, it's mostly hotel room taxes) to support broader community economic development priorities.

To me, it's obvious that the use of tourism tax revenue streams should move into this direction.

Estuary Bar Seating Room. Photo: Conrad Washington, DC. The 360-room, 10-floor hotel features 30,000 square feet of luxury retail space on its ground floor and 32,000 square feet of purpose-built meeting space, all above ground level.

10.  Locally, the new Conrad Hotel in the CityCenter (and the CityCenter development has caused a shifting of retail space away from other areas of the city, in particular Friendship Heights, see the WBJ article "Chevy Chase Pavilion faces opposition on medical office plan") has created a youth culinary training program in association with DC Central Kitchen, as part of the social impact and environmental sustainability goals initiated by the parent corporation, Hilton Hotels.

I think that's interesting.  Just as people may choose to book a place to stay at Fairbnb instead of Airbnb because of social and community goods, people can make similar choices concerning more traditional hotels too.

11.  Marriott initiated its own form of home sharing ("This is Marriott's answer to Airbnb," CNN).  I think there's a market for it, as people will presume there are certain kinds of quality standards that might not always be present with alternative platforms.

=======

I still haven't gotten around to reading The Competitive Destination: A Sustainable Tourism Perspective.

I did re-read the out-of-print Tourism Development Handbook: A Practical Approach to Planning and Marketing, and except for one chapter on digital marketing which is now out-of-date given the book is more than 15 years old, it's still excellent.

There's a huge body of academic work on tourism development and management.

It's tragic that it isn't drawn upon by localities when developing with strategies and programs for better managing tourism.

And with that work, it's possible to shape the tourism sector in ways that support the provision of cultural and other assets, and extend the range of what's available, in ways that simultaneously benefit the local community.

For example, the Venice Project Center, a research unit of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, has conducted over 200 projects, producing many publications, etc.

Thinking narrowly, not bigly: San Diego's tourism tax revenue stream debacle

Tourism taxes are a tried and true revenue source for cities to pay for stadiums and convention facilities, as well as tourism marketing efforts and visitor centers, and landing large conventions and meetings.

The taxes are usually a combination of fees on hotel rooms and rental cars primarily, and sometimes with an add-on meals tax. 

Often such fees are used to help fund large hotels proximate to a convention center, to serve as "the headquarters" for meetings.  It's not uncommon for such hotels to lose money ("City-owned Hilton Baltimore lost $5.5 million in 2016," Baltimore Business Journal), which means they require ongoing subsidy.

Local officials like tourism taxes because tourists don't vote.  But the hotel and restaurant community often has mixed feelings because they see "too high" taxes as a discouragement to potential visitors and making it more difficult to land conventions.

Most communities don't require that such taxes be approved by the citizens in a referendum, because for the most part, such taxes aren't paid by the residents (excepting meals taxes, and local use of rental cars).  

San Diego does require such votes, and there has been a lot of controversy, for years, over increasing the hotel tax, and what it should be used for.  More recently, citizens voted against funding a combined new stadium for the San Diego Chargers football team and an expanded convention center ("Stadium measures lose badly," San Diego Union-Tribune).

It was an ersatz proposal because the convention center element was satisficed in favor of the stadium.

With the defeat of that proposal, the city's convention center is proposing a referendum on funding improvements and an expansion.  But Balboa Park Heritage Association--Balboa Park is an awesome multi-facility park and cultural destination--plans to put forth a competing proposal. (There are also other proposals for the stadium, involving a local university, soccer interests, and others.)

The San Diego Union-Tribune's headline, "Convention center or Balboa Park: Where should tourist taxes go?," puts it best, "where should tourist taxes go?" except that I believe both the Convention Center and Balboa Park are getting it wrong.

It's not either/or: San Diego needs a comprehensive tourism management plan. The issue is something I bring up a lot in DC, that there needs to be better "tourism management and development planning."

Cities where tourism comprises a significant segment of the local economy are irresponsible if they don't have a tourism element in Comprehensive/Master Plans.  These plans should discuss and make recommendations about how to use the tourism tax revenue stream "more broadly" so that a wide range of cultural destinations and attractions are supported, serving more segments of the local community.

Charleston, SC is the best example nationally of a Tourism Management Plan although separately, the city's historic preservation program and urban design initiatives have broadened the benefits of tourism for the wider community.

"We are all destination managers now" | c. 2005.  In fact, one of my earliest posts from 2005, "Town-City branding or 'We are all destination managers now'," makes the point that "commercial district revitalization" professionals and stakeholders need to think of what they are doing more broadly, that they need to think of themselves as "destination managers," and be less parochial.

Relatedly, by making places great for residents, they also become attractive for visitors.

Clearly, given the competing proposals San Diego (and DC) needs a broader plan for how to use tourism taxes. 

Metropolitan approaches to funding cultural facilities are an example of how to do this.  While not hotel taxes per se, Denver and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania provide good examples of a comprehensive broader approach. 

Denver has a regional sales tax to fund cultural assets mostly located in Denver termed the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District ("Denver metro’s arts and cultural tax, 4B, passes easily, extends to 2030," Denver Post).

The Regional Asset District in Allegheny County funds cultural institutions across the entire county, recognizing that the bulk of the area's cultural institutions are based in Pittsburgh, serving the region, but had only been funded by the City of Pittsburgh, and this was unsustainable. 

Other counties across the country has a similar approach to Allegheny's, such as Salt Lake County's Zoo, Arts & Parks (ZAP) Tax and the Great Parks of Hamilton County park tax district in Ohio.

Public Improvement Districts are another tool for sub-districts in a community.  Colorado also allows the creation of add on sales taxes for "micro-districts" to fund local urban design and other improvements such as for the Larimer Square district of Denver.