Canada's convention centre operators and meeting planners are watching to see how much of a bite high fuel prices will take out of future events.
Mike Fitzpatrick, past-chairman of Convention Centres of Canada and the general manager of Edmonton's Shaw Conference Centre, says it's likely facility operators and meeting planners will have to adopt strategies to counteract high fuel prices in the future, but it's difficult to determine what to do at this point.
"We all seem to be agreed that we've got to do something," says Fitzpatrick.
He says the Edmonton convention centre generates $40 million in economic spinoffs per year.
But economic impact measurement standards vary greatly across Canada. And, with events held outside convention centres at hotels and other venues, the impact is likely much greater than perceived.
"It's quite probable that (strategizing) would occur," says Fitzpatrick. "It's also a bit early for us to determine what (those strategies) are going to be."
In B.C. alone, the price of gas shot up as much as 10 per cent per litre in some communities after the province's carbon tax took effect July 1. Other provincial and federal fuel taxes loom as Ottawa and the provinces attempt to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Kyoto protocol and beyond its 2012 timeframe.
"We're sort of waiting with bated breath," says Sarah Lowis, president of North Vancouver-based Sea to Sky Meeting Management Inc., which co-ordinates conventions and other large events across the country.
"On one hand, we're a little bit anxious, because (the high price of gas) could prevent attendance at conventions. On the other hand, it won't stop people from doing what they really want to do."
Since most conventions are booked as many as 10 years in advance, Fitzpatrick says, meeting planners have not really given much thought to strategies related to fuel prices. Fuel costs are not yet angering convention industry-goers the way they are upsetting leisure travellers.
"You don't see the same immediate impact that may be evident in leisure travel, where the family decides, 'Well, we're not going to drive as far this vacation because the gas prices are high,' "says Fitzpatrick.
"With the convention delegate, the commitment made is made much further out - usually - so it takes a lot longer for the impact of something like high gasoline prices to really take effect.
"From our own experience so far, we're not seeing that particular concern in the convention market. But we do see a very real concern about environmentally sustainable practices and recycling (and) composting. Those kinds of things are paramount in meeting planners' minds these days."
Fitzpatrick says that people's need to meet in person may actually trump high gas costs.
He predicts a higher price at the pumps may change people's convention-going habits, but will not completely eliminate the need to meet in the same place at the same time.
"Higher gas prices aren't going to prevent people from meeting," says Fitzpatrick.
"They might meet in fewer numbers, they might meet less often, but they'll still need to meet. I just can't see that (need) changing."
He says convention organizers and delegates have defied pundits' predictions that new technologies would spell the demise of convention-related travel and the need to meet.
"It used to be video-conferencing," he says. "It's been webcasting - any number of things that were supposed to reduce or eliminate the need to actually meet face to face. We've seen in the past that people do actually need to meet ... perhaps, to get to know the people with whom they're going to be dealing if they're going to be buying a major piece of equipment or a major piece of real estate."
In the case of small communities that require delegates to travel further, he predicts, higher fuel prices and increasing environmental concerns may result in a shift to more regional, rather than national or international, events.
"It has the benefit, I guess, of reducing the time required, but in many cases folks will visit a convention site for reasons other than business," Fitzpatrick says.
Brian Dahl, a senior project manager with Vancouver-based event planner Prime Strategies Inc., says ground-transportation firms have added new fuel surcharges or increased old ones that range between five to 15 per cent. Airlines such as Air Canada and WestJet have also implemented their own fuel surcharges and imposed tighter weight restrictions for checked baggage.
Prime Strategies has begun to build these additional fuel costs into its preliminary budgets and is anticipating costs further ahead on future programs, says Dahl, also an outgoing board member for Meeting Planners in Canada.
Dahl's firm has maximized use of its transfer vehicles from both a cost-savings and emissions-reduction perspective and placed tighter fuel-related restrictions on its contractors.
"Many of our (requests for proposals) now require that contracted vendors and transportation suppliers implement and maintain more effective measures of fuel management," says Dahl.
"The entire meetings and convention industry should collaborate with industry partners such as airlines to minimize the impact of the high fuel prices by encouraging the airlines to maintain control of costs and opening up more seat availability, instead of reducing routes or cancelling flights altogether."
Sea to Sky's Lowis says high fuel costs have not shown much of an effect yet, but she is wary that they could affect an event that her company is organizing for Vancouver in 2009, which would require Americans to drive up the U.S. west coast into Canada.
Her firm is putting extra effort into marketing to ensure that its events are attractive.
"We haven't started to give discounts or to compensate for the high cost of fuel," says Lowis. "We're just trying to demonstrate the value added to what we're offering."
While prices might be hard to predict in future, she says the industry is used to adversity.
"These fuel prices are causing anxiety for 2009-10," she says. "However, there's always something - 9/11 definitely had an immediate impact. Then it seemed to top out. Then came SARS.
"Then came (delays at) border crossings, you know (requirements for Americans to have) passports. Somehow, the industry keeps going and people still attend and Americans still respond."
Lowis adds high fuel prices likely won't affect international associations, because they book their conventions four to eight years in advance. But American groups may choose to hold their meetings closer to home.
Still, she says, the Canadian convention industry will manage to carry on.
"There always seems to be something (negative) that affects us, but we somehow come through it," says Lowis.
(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)
