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 4%—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.
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.
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 2% 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.
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.”
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.
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 6%.
The municipality plans to use some of the funds from the tax—50% 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.