Seattle mayor signs legislation aimed at boosting city’s tourism, includes hotel fee

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell signed legislation Wednesday looking for ways to increase the city’s tourism and help out local businesses.

The Seattle Tourism Improvement Area (STIA), a new fund collected from surrounding businesses to redirect services to revitalize the area, was signed into law in late September by the City Council. The goal of the STIA is to “increase travel and tourism promotion for the city and region.”

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“Through the Seattle Tourism Improvement Area, we are further strengthening Seattle’s ability to market and promote itself as a world-class city to visitors from all over the world,” Harrell said in a prepared statement. “We know tourism is a powerful economic driver, benefiting small and local businesses across the city, and this STIA enhancement means expanded opportunity to bring people to Seattle.”

The legislation increases fees for those looking to stay in 71 hotels downtown from a $2 fee to a $4 fee per room per night. The money will go to the city’s tourism marketing board, Visit Seattle.

STIA was first created in 2011 to further marketing and promotion efforts that had already existed at the state and city levels.

“We celebrate the reimagined STIA that will enable Seattle to better invest in growing our tourism economy on a more competitive level with other major cities. The changes implemented in this legislation set us up for long-term success and help lift all our neighborhoods and businesses year-round,” Visit Seattle President and CEO Tammy Canavan said in the city’s press release.

This is just one piece of the Mayor’s broader Downtown Activation Plan, which is working to improve safety and beautify the downtown corridor. It also is working to address drug addiction and homelessness downtown.

The executive action includes a variety of measures to redirect those struggling with addiction into social services, prevent overdose deaths, and crack down on drug dealers. The plan will also work to improve downtown with more storefronts, parks, and cleaning.

Other steps to change downtown Seattle’s image will include 20 vacant storefronts being filled by the Seattle Restored program, reopening City Hall Park with new safety and activity programs, and hiring more Metropolitan Improvement District ambassadors to keep downtown clean.

The new STIA will go into effect Jan. 1, 2024.