Tourism opportunities knocking: Motel, hotel owners should consider support for Missoula district

Last fall, a group of local hoteliers circulated a petition to create a tourism business improvement district, or TBID. The petition, which explained that the district would collect 75 cents for each room occupied in order to promote Missoula tourism, initially garnered strong support, with the owners of more than 60 percent of the square footage in the district signing on.

In this respect, the proposed TBID in Missoula was much like the TBIDs operating in Billings, Bozeman, Great Falls, Havre and Helena, among other Montana cities.

But then, 24 of the 37 owners in the proposed district opted to protest the petition, bringing the TBID creation process to the sudden, screeching halt. In the months since, Missoula Mayor John Engen has helped lead meetings with both supporters and protesters of the TBID in the hopes of hashing out a petition agreeable to all parties. Unfortunately, despite these good-faith efforts, a great deal of misinformation seems to be persisting, and many of the protesting business owners have not yet withdrawn their petitions.

Hotel owners will have another opportunity to learn the facts about TBIDs and discuss their concerns at an upcoming meeting slated for March 11. It would be a good idea for both supporters and protesters to attend, and help bring this unnecessary impasse to an end.

Full Missoulian Editorial: http://missoulian.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_c31ac26e-22fc-11df-a00e-001cc4c03286.html