Saskatoon City Council turns down Discover Saskatoon’s large funding request

Discover Saskatoon, a non-profit, organization formerly known as Tourism Saskatoon, won’t be receiving a large funding increase as requested by Stephanie Pocha, its CEO.

In a letter to the finance committee dated Oct. 2, 2025, Pocha requested a funding a contract renewal, and increase to the organization’s fee-for-service agreement from $619,000 that year, to more than $1.2 million starting Jan. 1, 2026.

Read more:

• Discover Saskatoon gets $350k for bid on mystery sporting event
• Saskatoon council approves motion to monitor and assess work by snow contractors
• Saskatoon administration seeks council approval to borrow for major city projects

“With your support, we carry out essential destination marketing, visitor services, event attraction, and community engagement, all of which are already outlined in our current contract with the City,” she wrote.

Pocha, spoke to city council on Wednesday Jan. 28, outlining her reasoning for the large funding increase. During a telephone interview after the meeting, she reiterated some of those reasons.

“Really what I was emphasizing in our work and our communications is that that visitor spending that we generate – through the demand generation that they contract us to do – is external revenue.

“It supports thousands of jobs in Saskatoon, it brings money into the city that doesn’t come from residents pockets and so their investment is actually returning in spades,” she said.

According to a report from administration, the City of Saskatoon’s contribution to Discover Saskatoon amounts to about 12 per cent of its operating revenues.

Much of the rest of the money – 71 per cent – comes from something called “Destination Marketing Fees.” Participating Saskatoon hotels charge the three-per-cent voluntary fee in addition to room prices.

According to the city report, “the intent of the submitted proposal, is to use the funding to carry out its (Discover  Saskatoon’s) core mandate and using the additional funds to attract visitors and events.”

Ultimately, city council unanimously decided to provide a three-per-cent-inflationary increase from 2026 to 2029, along with a $100,000 bonus payment, subject to mutually agreed upon performance targets.

There will also be a $50,000 increase to the city’s Major Special Events Reserve contribution between 2027 and 2029.

Pocha said that wasn’t what she was hoping for.

“The funding that we received will fund a slight increase to our operations, but it certainly will not fuel the machine that is generating the demand that we absolutely could be for the city,” she said, citing $750 million in visitor spending in Saskatoon in 2025.

The report, which offered four funding options, however indicated that “The City’s annual contribution is within range of what other cities contribute to these agencies.”

Possible Merger between Discover Saskatoon and SREDA

The city report also briefly suggested a potential amalgamation or merger between Discover Saskatoon and the Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA).

However, both organizations are independent of the City of Saskatoon.

“One approach is to encourage the amalgamation of economic development and tourism functions into one agency. This is rare in Canada, with only Winnipeg using it,” read the report.

Pocha said at this point, she’s not in favour of “any form of amalgamation” between the two groups.

“From my perspective it’s really not choosing the right kind of change. Saskatoon needs better co-ordination, not less capacity,” she said.

An email from Erin Lawson, CEO of SREDA, said the organization is aware of the amalgamation suggestion, and at this point, can’t offer any comment on it, while noting that a four-year funding contract has already been signed with the city of Saskatoon.

The city report also noted that more work needs to be done on the topic.