Tourism Winnipeg

43 43 Direction 8: Encourage Activities Beneficial to the Winnipeg Economy. Enabling Strategies: » Promote Winnipeg as a world-class venue for national and international events and Downtown in particular as a tourism destination. » Collaborate with various agencies as well as the private and not-for-profit sectors on opportunities to promote tourism ventures. » Enhance and showcase Winnipeg's unique public assets, amenities and attractions through high-quality design, maintenance and connectivity. Recognize the importance of volunteers, key volunteer organizations and community spirit and support in hosting special events. b. Direct Funding Support Provided to and/or Budgeted for Festivals and Events from the City and Other Government Agencies The City of Winnipeg embraces the benefits, economic impact and vibrancy that festivals and events have on civic pride. As a result, the city has a number of avenues for festivals and events to receive direct and indirect financial support. 1) Make specific financial requests for an operating grant via the City of Winnipeg's budget process, which you can find here: http://www.winnipeg.ca/clerks/OperatingGrant/default.stm. Some examples of festivals that have received funding through this process in recent years include Table for 1200 (an annual outdoor pop-up dining event), Festival du Voyageur (an annual winter festival) and Manyfest/Cicolovia (an annual multi-event and cycling festival hosted by Downtown BIZ). 2) Another way for special events to access funding is through The City of Winnipeg's Special Event Tourism Fund. It was created in 2008 to attract regional, national and international events, increasing economic returns for Winnipeg. The fund is generated through a portion of the City's Accommodation Tax revenue and is managed by Tourism Winnipeg (a division of Economic Development Winnipeg Inc.) in partnership with the City of Winnipeg and the Manitoba Hotel Association. The accommodation tax represents a five percent levy on hotel room accommodations within the City of Winnipeg. Last year, the tax generated $9.1 million in revenue all of which is deposited into the Destination Marketing Reserve. In 2017, only about 11 percent of accommodation tax revenue, or $1 million, is distributed through the Special Events Tourism Fund. The new 2018 City of Winnipeg budget will bolster this allocation by more than doubling it to 25 percent. Tyler Walsh

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