San Francisco creates Tourism Improvement District

from yesterday's San Francisco Business Times (10/22):

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 - 2:49 PM PDT

S.F. hotels to boost city's tourism funds
San Francisco Business Times - by Sarah Duxbury

"Mayor Gavin Newsom has made a Tourism Improvement District a key part of his economic stimulus package.

The district could generate $27 million in its first year alone, and it is similar to a business improvement district, only bound by business type rather than geography.

Of that $27 million, $9 million would go toward much needed upgrades to Moscone Center; almost $18 million would be spent marketing and promoting San Francisco and its hotels.

The TID “will ensure that San Francisco’s No. 1 industry will remain competitive long into the future. We will be able to reach out to markets where we’ve not been able to aggressively compete in the past,” said Joe D’Alessandro, CEO of the SFCVB. “What this new budget will do is still put us behind our competitor cities like San Diego and Los Angeles, but up to this point we have had resources far below what those markets have.”

Under the 15-year assessment agreement, all tourist hotels have been divided into two zones. Zone 1 is essentially all hotels east of Van Ness and north of 16th Streets. They will be assessed 1.5 percent on gross revenue from tourist rooms for the first five years of the TID, and then 1 percent of gross revenue for years 6 to 15. Zone 2 hotels are those located west of Van Ness and south of 16th Street. They will pay 1 percent of gross room revenue for the first five years and 0.75 percent of revenue for years 6 to 15." ...

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