B.C. Green Lights Accommodation Tax For 2026 FIFA World Cup

Summary

• Vancouver gets approval from British Columbia to impose accommodation tax
• An extra 2.5% accommodation tax will be imposed for the next 7 years
• The extra funds will be used to fund the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Vancouver

Toronto and Vancouver are already making serious preparations to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The United States, Canada and Mexico will play join hosts for the 23^rd edition of the FIFA World Cup.

A total of 16 cities in North America will host the 2026 FIFA World Cup and Vancouver will host 10 out of the 70 matches during this World Cup football extravaganza. 

Vancouver To Roll Out 2.5% Accommodation Tax 

Vancouver is pumping in millions of dollars to successfully prepare and host these 10 games. The City of Vancouver put in a request to the Provincial Government in the fall of 2022 to get a tax hike approval on the basis that Vancouver would need additional finances from their usual running operations. 

British Columbia has given Vancouver the approval to roll out an additional 2.5% accommodation tax that will come into effect from Feb 01, 2023 and last for a period of 7 years. This additional tax will be imposed on all vacation rental by owner (VRBO), Airbnb’s and hotel room bookings in Vancouver.

The approval was given after British Columbia and Destination Vancouver held discussions with stakeholders in the tourism and vacation sector in Vancouver. The general consensus was with the influx of hundreds of thousands of soccer fans during the FIFA World Cup, the 2.5% tax would help bring in significant revenues which are estimated to be around $230 million.

The one concern that the stakeholders had was over the timeline as they felt that if the amount was reached before the 7 year period, then the 2.5% accommodation tax should be dropped soon after.

B.C. Happy To Approval Vancouver’s Request

Katrine Conroy, Minister of Finance said that British Columbia was happy to throw their support behind Vancouver as the city looks to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Conroy highlighted the fact that the province had introduced a major events tax back in 2010 when Vancouver hosted the 2010 Olympics. 

Destination British Columbia says that the 2026 FIFA World Cup could bring in around 250,000 tourists with more than 50 percent of them coming from outside North America.