Canada is attracting fewer visitors from the United States this year, but the usual culprit—high gasoline prices—is not the biggest reason, the president of the Hotel Association of Canada says.
“For 10 years we became accustomed to the Canadian dollar at 75 to 80 cents, which fundamentally meant for an American coming up here you come up for two days and the third day is free,” Anthony Pollard said.
The loonie, which hit US$1.10 in November, was worth around 94 cents U.S. on Tuesday.
The prospect of long border delays and confusion over whether a passport is needed to get into Canada have also dissuaded Americans from heading north.
A report by Statistics Canada on Monday said Canada got nearly 13% fewer travellers in June than the same month the year before. Travel from the United States fell nearly 16% in that period, with same-day car trips from the United States falling about 22%.
Randy Williams, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, said August booking numbers are down from last year and that the picture is not looking any prettier for the rest of 2008.
Acknowledging that some things—like gas prices, the economy and the Canadian dollar—cannot be controlled, Williams said his group is trying to work on things that can be done to help Canada’s slumping tourism industry. Ottawa also needs to work harder on making Canada a more competitive travel destination, since it’s hard to predict what gas prices will do, Williams said.
Both Williams and Pollard’s associations have been focusing their advertising on different markets in light of high gas prices.
“That same-day visitor from the United States has just been disappearing. There has been some effort to shift marketing in the U.S. to a longer haul visitor,” said Williams, noting that flyers tend to be less price-sensitive than drivers.
On the other hand, Pollard said a lot of travellers still want to drive, but have been choosing destinations closer to home.
“I encourage hoteliers all the time to look at your market … and then make sure that you devote your resources very, very carefully to that,” he said.
Business has been good this summer at the Rocky Mountain tourist hub of Banff-Lake Louise, said Julie Canning, president of the national park’s tourism association.
“A lot of the international visitors that have come to Canada… those travel decisions were made six, eight, 10 months ago,” Canning said. “Although we may see gas prices impacting some short-term decision making, we really haven’t started to feel the effects of it.”
Banff launched a public transit system this summer called Roam, which ferries passengers between attractions around the town, allowing them to ditch their cars for the day.
“It provides an affordable way for people to move around the town site,” Canning said.
