2025 By-Law Amendments and Changes to TIF

The Tourism Improvement Fee has been in place since 2006 and makes up just over 70% of Banff & Lake Louise Tourism’s (BLLT) total revenue. It is critical to driving demand for the destination, managing its reputation, and supporting long-term resilience.

Recent changes to the Alberta Tourism Levy (ATL) means that online travel agencies (OTAs) now remit ATL collected directly to the Government of Alberta. This limits hotels’ ability to see how much ATL has been collected on their behalf, making the former TIF model unworkable.

The change applies retroactively to October 1, 2024, aligning with the date the Alberta Tourism Levy legislation changes came into effect.

“Room Revenue” means the actual monetary consideration received by a Resident Lodging Sector Member for overnight Lodging excluding:

• GST
• Alberta Tourism Levy and all other goods or services not attributable to Lodging alone.

In June, 2025, the BLLT Board of Directors implemented a Standing TIF Policy to support Lodging operators in determining what specific fees and charges TIF should be applied to.

Review the Standing TIF Policy

This policy is intended to keep the transition from 50% of ATL to 2% of Room Revenue as simple as possible by continuing to use the ATL framework to determine what TIF is applicable on.

As a basic rule for determining what TIF should be applied to: If you currently apply ATL to a specific fee or service, continue to apply TIF as you would have prior to October 1, 2024.

In July 2025, we will be sending an Amendment to your Contractual TIF Agreement that will reflect the changes and ensure alignment between Lodging Members within the townsite and Contractual Members throughout the rest of the national park.

• Firstly, by the Lodging Sector at a Special Meeting held on May 1, 2025.
• Secondly, by the Full Membership at a Special Meeting held on June 5, 2025.
• Thirdly, by Town of Banff Council (amending the Business License By-law to reflect changes above) on June 9, 2025.

All revisions were developed in consultation with a Lodging Sector Working Group, comprised of hotel operators, accountants, members of the Executive Committee, BLLT’s third-party agent (Baker Tilly), and legal counsel.

The changes were presented to the Lodging Sector at a meeting held on April 8 where members were invited to a presentation and Q&A session to better understand the need for the changes and the proposed solution.

Watch the Recording View Pre-Read Materials

No. The amount paid will be the same. Under the current 4% Alberta Tourism Levy, 50% equals 2% of Room Revenue.

No. Any change to the TIF rate must be approved by Lodging Sector members, the BLLT Board, the full Membership, and the Town of Banff. The same process is required every time.

We are considering the 2025 TIF year a transition year. Last fall, each property completed a reconciliation of actual TIF collected Oct 1, 2023-Sep 30, 2024 based on 50% of ATL remitted, which determined any over/under payment due (the “true-up”), and provided the base to estimate TIF for Oct 1, 2024 – Sep 30, 2025.

In fall of 2025, the actual TIF will be calculated based on 2% of Room Revenue, which will determine the true-up and which will also form the basis for the estimated TIF for 2026.

Our Third-Party Agent (Baker Tilly) will be amending the TIF Remittance Form to reflect these changes and will be available to support Lodging Members through this transition.

There has been no change in remittance yet. Invoices currently reflect an estimate based on the prior year’s Alberta Tourism Levy amounts. The new calculation will apply at year-end (Sep 30) when actual TIF is reconciled.

Yes — TIF is reconciled at the end of the TIF year (Sep 30) based on actuals.

Yes. Since Alberta Tourism Levy reports are no longer complete, TIF reviews will now focus solely on Room Revenue.

Moving forward, it is important to ensure that TIF is no longer referred to as a percentage of ATL.

We recommend all Lodging Members thoroughly review customer-facing documentation, including invoice templates, website descriptions of TIF, property signage, and printed materials to be sure this change is reflected moving forward. We also recommend that you ensure your frontline staff are aware of the changes and no longer refer to the TIF amount as a percent of ATL.

As an important reminder, TIF is not a tax and should not be referred to as one. Here’s an example of how TIF can be described in visitor-facing communications:

The Tourism Improvement Fee (TIF) is a 2% charge applied to accommodation in Banff National Park that is used to enhance the experience of visitors by funding destination initiatives and supporting visitation to Banff and Lake Louise through marketing. Some common examples of how the TIF is utilized: 

• Funding special events, such as the SnowDays Festival, In Search of Christmas Spirit, and the Art in Nature Trail.
• Providing visitor services at the information centres and through online channels.
• Allowing access to online information and trip planning resources via banfflakelouise.com and through our social media channels.

That depends on whether the TIF calculation is automated in the Operator’s system and if so, how that calculation is set up. If it is currently based on 50% of ATL, it will need to be changed to 2% of Room Revenue. 

We recommend you notify all your OTA’s of this change and let them know that they may need to make changes to how they represent TIF to customers (see above). TIF should continue to be applied by the OTA, however the calculation of TIF must now be based on 2% of Room Revenue in the event the OTA was previously calculating as 50% of ATL assessed. OTA’s should continue to remit TIF directly to the property.

No. TIF will continue to be paid to the hotels (either directly by the guest, or by the OTA), who will then remit it to BLLT, as has always been the case.

It is based on what the hotel receives — the actual monetary consideration collected by the hotel, not the guest-facing price set by the OTA.

No. Only the calculation method is changing — reporting and remittance processes will remain the same.

No. The Tourism Improvement Fee is not a tax — it is a fee collected by agreement.

Within the Town of Banff: No, because the TIF is collected through the Business License Bylaw.

Outside the Town (BLLT Contractual Members): Yes, GST is applied.

No – Hotels, Bed and Breakfast Homes, and Bed and Breakfast Inns with less than four rooms remain exempt from collecting and remitting TIF.

• $100 Room Revenue
• Add 2% of Room Revenue (TIF) = $2
• Alberta Tourism Levy (4%) and Goods and Services Tax (5%) are calculated on $102
• Total taxes and fees = approximately 11.18%

Yes, this was an opportunity to make some minor changes that are not related to TIF. Some examples include:

• Added language throughout to allow for meetings and votes to be conducted electronically;
• Relaxed nominations requirements for Directors elections;
• Loosened requirements related to standing committees;
• Simplified election process for Officers of the Board;
• Updated definitions as needed;
• Updated and clarified language throughout as needed;
• Removed reference to genders throughout;
• Ensured that current practices are reflected in language throughout.

An update on the by-law changes will be shared in the member newsletter—The Moment—with the full membership this summer.