Whistler accounts for 11 per cent of all tourism revenue in B.C., according to a study done for the One Whistler group by KPMG, titled The Economic Impact of Whistler.
Whistler generated $1.035 billion in tourism revenue in 2000, while total tourism spending in B.C. that year was $9.47 billion.
The study indicates spending by visitors to Whistler generated 21,470 full-year equivalent jobs, $795.6 million in direct and indirect value-added expenditures, and $376.4 million in government revenues. Of that government revenue, 41 per cent went to Ottawa, 50 per cent to Victoria and about nine per cent to the Resort Municipality of Whistler.
Whistler attracted more than 2 million visitors in 2000. Seventy-six per cent of winter visitors were from outside the province and 54 per cent of summer visitors came from outside B.C.
More than 19 per cent of total tourism employment in the province was in Whistler in 2000, accounting for $529 million in salaries and wages.
School taxes collected in Whistler accounted for 68 per cent of the Howe Sound School District’s budget in 2000.
The property transfer tax from Whistler amounted to $10 million in 2000, all of which goes to the provincial government.
Some resort towns in the United States collect a portion of the real estate transfer tax, and that relates to the purpose of the study. One Whistler – which includes the municipality, Tourism Whistler and Whistler-Blackcomb – commissioned the study to quantify Whistler’s value to the provincial government and make the case for giving Whistler more financial tools to raise additional funds.
"I think we’ve built a strong case to take to the province," Councillor Ken Melamed said Monday when the study was presented to council.
"It’s clear we can’t survive with this continual down-loading (of costs). We need to re-invest in infrastructure and the resort."
KPMG developed an economic model for the study utilizing the Conference Board of Canada’s Tourism Economic Assessment Model and parallel models used by Tourism Vancouver and Tourism B.C.
The study will be updated on an annual basis.
