The Municipality of Wawa is moving ahead on its plans to implement a municipal accommodation tax (MAT).
Once enacted, tourists visiting the northern Ontario community for less than 30 days will be taxed an additional four per cent—a typical rate across the province. Wawa is one of several cottage-country regions to adopt the tax this year, joining Lake of Bays and the municipalities within the County of Haliburton.
The bylaw is expected to be voted on by town council in the coming month and will likely come into effect on April 1, 2025.
“What we’re trying to do here in Wawa is better serve the people who come through the community,” says Alex Patterson, the director of community services and tourism in Wawa. “We can make sure people at the tourist information centre are nice and welcoming, but what I can’t do for free is upgrade the washrooms or keep the lights on.”
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In the past, many tourist amenities in Wawa—including the tourist information centre off the Trans-Canada Hwy., home to the giant Canada goose statue—were largely funded by the provincial government. Patterson says that as this funding dropped off, it’s become more difficult for the municipality to keep up with maintenance costs.
“We can choose to fund that off the residential tax base, or the people who actually use these amenities,” says Patterson.
The types of accommodations that the tax applies to is determined by the municipality. Recently, Dysart et al in Haliburton chose to only apply a two per cent MAT to short-term rentals—half the rate at which the tax was set in the county’s other municipalities.
In Wawa, the MAT will apply to anyone staying in transient accommodations including hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, and short-term rentals.
Local businesses concerned that the MAT will harm tourism
Some community members are concerned that the tax will have the opposite effect and hurt tourism in the municipality.
“Less people are going to come to our place because they have to pay this tax,” says Bozena Kawka, the owner of High Falls Motel and Cabins in Wawa.
Though Wawa was historically popular for hunters and anglers, it has become a destination for campers, paddlers, and hikers visiting nearby Lake Superior Provincial Park.
This year, Kawka says that she’s noticed an increase in tourists haggling over accommodation costs. “People are fighting over $5 increases in prices,” she says. “The economy isn’t doing great, and everyone is watching their money.”
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Local businesses were a part of the tax’s consultation process, but Kawka doesn’t feel like community opinions were taken seriously. She’s worried that an additional tax will push tourists over the edge and towards other destinations.
“They say it’s going to bring more tourism, but how are you going to bring more tourists if you’re taxing them?” says Kawka.
Wawa’s move follows a local trend towards implementing the MAT
Though Patterson says driving away tourists is a valid concern, he points to the many surrounding communities that have “successfully” implemented the tax.
Wawa is years behind other northern areas, including Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury, and the neighbouring communities of Chapleau and Marathon—which recently upped its tax to six per cent.
“It’s not going to set Wawa apart,” says Patterson. “The things that do set Wawa apart are the things that will be improved.”
The municipality plans to use some of the funds from the tax—50 per cent of which must go back into local tourism—to offset costs for tourism amenities, improve tourism marketing, “beautify” the downtown core, and increase its special events.
Another goal? Upgrading the tourism information centre, which Patterson estimates was visited by around 1,000 people every day this year.
“This aims to directly serve the people who are coming to visit,” says Patterson. “I hope that four per cent on a hotel bill keeps all of that running and more.”
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