Protecting travellers and supporting tourism

Overview

The Traveller Protection and Destination Development Act (formerly Bill 16), establishes a destination governance framework to protect travellers from hidden or misleading fees and ensure destination marketing fees collected for tourism promotion are used as intended, to support and enhance local destinations across Alberta. These destination marketing fees are fees that tourism businesses may voluntarily charge to customers to support local destination marketing and development. The use of destination marketing fees is a globally accepted practice.

The act sets clear parameters for how destination marketing fees are collected, managed, and reinvested to support tourism marketing and development in the communities where they are collected. To enhance consumer protection, the act additionally requires all mandatory fees on accommodations or tourism experiences, including but not limited to these destination marketing fees, to be clearly disclosed at the time of booking to prohibit businesses from surprising customers with hidden fees at the end of their stay. 

Under the act, destination marketing fees will continue to be industry-led, with tourism businesses maintaining the ability to choose whether to charge these fees to their customers and destination organizations maintaining the ability to set the rate of the fees locally.

The Traveller Protection and Destination Development Act is part of the Alberta government’s commitment to maintain Alberta’s reputation as a premier travel destination and to grow the tourism economy to $25 billion in annual visitor spending by 2035.

Key changes

The Traveller Protection and Destination Development Act:

• governs the voluntary collection, management, and reinvestment of destination marketing fees across the province to ensure fees are used to deliver measurable economic benefits for participating businesses and local economies, and end the practice of fees being retained for profit
• establishes clear requirements for the designation of one destination marketing organization and, if applicable, accommodation association per region to unify destination leadership and enable clear communication with visitors
• introduces a framework for the governance of destination marketing organizations and accommodation associations to ensure strong industry representation, drive measurable economic outcomes, and encourage increased participation from businesses
• ensures destination marketing fees may only be charged in a geographic area where a designated destination marketing organization exists to ensure consumers are not charged misleading fees
• requires third party management of destination marketing fees by a trustee to ensure transparency reporting and accountability 
• includes amendments to the Consumer Protection Act to require that all mandatory fees charged to consumers on overnight accommodations or tourism experiences be disclosed at the time of booking to prevent surprise checkout costs and protect Alberta's reputation as a premier travel destination

Next steps

The Traveller Protection and Destination Development Act came into force on July 14, 2026.

The act includes a transition period, from July 14 until December 31, 2026, during which organizations and operators must take reasonable steps to come into compliance with the act and regulation, including applying for designation where required. On and after January 1, 2027, the act and regulation apply in full.

• Learn about designation for destination marketing fee collection and reporting

News

• Legislation targets tourism fee transparency (February 25, 2026)