Take a trip within Manitoba next month, get cash back

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This article was published 16/04/2022 (1362 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It pays to travel within the province next month.

The Manitoba Chambers of Commerce is relaunching its Tourism Rebate Incentive Program. Manitoba residents who stay at a hotel or motel any night from May 6 through 16 can get up to $100 back.

Adults who don’t access the lodging rebate can try for a 50 per cent return on their admission to one of 31 Manitoba attractions during the same time period.

“We want to encourage people to… get back out again. It’s been a long winter,” said Chuck Davidson, president of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce.

The organization first launched the program over four weeks last summer. It issued $2.2 million in rebates to Manitobans who vacationed in the province.

The incentive generated an estimated $11.2 million in spending in 2021, Davidson said. A survey of people who’d taken a rebate found tourists spent an average $510 on their trip.

“We see this as a good program, one that helps the (hospitality) industry and one that helps circulate dollars,” Davidson said.

The Manitoba Chambers of Commerce has earmarked roughly $1.5 million for rebates to Manitobans over the 11 May days. The funding, which comes from the province, should provide cash back to between 13,000 and 14,000 people, Davidson said.

Adults living in Manitoba can get their rebate by uploading a receipt from their hotel stay or site visit to tripmb.ca (which also has a list of eligible lodgings and attractions). Receipts must be uploaded by 11:59 p.m. on May 23.

Money will return in the form of a cheque or e-transfer to a PayPal account.

“I think it can only be a good thing, to encourage people to stay in Manitoba,” said Kendra Imrie, co-owner of Falcon Beach Ranch.

The lodge isn’t seeing the tidal wave of summer bookings it did last year, she said.

“I think that now people can travel out of province and internationally with more ease, it’s lowering the demand for local accommodations,” she said.

In February of 2021, Falcon Beach Ranch was fully rented for summer.

“Things are still filling up for (this) summer, and we don’t have very much space, but it took a lot more time this year,” Imrie said.

Midweek in the spring is slower for the ranch, so the incentive’s timing is welcome, Imrie said.

“I just hope that we can keep the momentum up from the previous two years and (that) Manitobans don’t forget about us once other destinations open up more,” she said.

Airbnbs, Vrbos and fishing and hunting lodges are among the spaces ineligible for the TRIP rebates.

Those looking to visit one of the program’s listed attractions should double-check if the place is open.

Fort la Reine Museum in Portage la Prairie is on the list, but it won’t be open by May 16.

“(The program is) great, but that doesn’t help us much,” said Emma Ens-MacIver, executive director and curator of the seasonal museum.

It was a participant last year, and both the incentive and advertising “did really help” with drawing crowds, Ens-MacIver said.

“Anything to boost people’s awareness helps boost our numbers,” she said. “Especially during harder economic times, everyone’s trying to save money.”

Ens-MacIver said she’d like to see the incentive run later in the summer so seasonal sites can benefit. Fort la Reine Museum will open closer to the end of May, she said.

“For right now, this is a one-time shot,” Davidson said. “If (the province and Travel Manitoba) see opportunity to do it again, we’re not opposed.”

Close to 25,000 people used the rebate program last summer. Fifty-six per cent of survey respondents said their trip wasn’t planned pre-incentive.

Manitobans can get returns on visits to Fort Whyte Alive, Assiniboine Park Zoo and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, among others.

People cannot send both a hotel receipt and an attraction receipt for rebates.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com