traAlberta’s tourism coffers took an estimated $150-million hit in the aftermath of the September terrorist attacks, and the province is still facing several challenges in recapturing market share in its fourth-largest industry, say tourism experts.
In a panel discussion last week, Tourism Calgary president and CEO Joe Fardell said some travel experts are expecting the recovery process to last up to five quarters.
“The effects of Sept. 11 on the travel industry cannot be understated,” he told a crowd of about 100 business people, including several travel and tourism representatives, at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.
“With the recovery process, we’re all asking the question: how long is it going to last?”
Americans are shying away from long-haul trips, focusing on North American destinations, and even choosing to stay home rather than travel. “The Americans also believe that this will be a 10-year fight against terrorism, unfortunately,” he added.
Derek Coke-Kerr, managing director for Travel Alberta, said Edmonton lost about $9 million in room revenue as a direct impact from the terrorist attacks, while Calgary hoteliers missed out on $4 million. The mountain resorts were hit the hardest, with an estimated loss of $17 million in room revenue alone. “That’s a lot of money, and a lot of people not coming here,” he said.
Total losses throughout the province, including rooms, restaurants and lost cab fares, totalled $150 million, he said.
But Coke-Kerr said Travel Alberta plans to continue with its long-term marketing strategy.
“We’re not going to pull out of the long-haul markets just because folks aren’t coming. We’ve spent millions of dollars in this province building up the equity and markets. The minute you stop spending those dollars is the minute they start forgetting about you.”
Alberta’s market share has dropped from 7.3 per cent of all U.S. visitors to Canada in 1996 to about 6.5 per cent in 2000, with each one-per-cent decrease resulting in an estimated $96-million loss in revenues.
Fardell said that Alberta is also lagging behind other provinces in the amount it spends on tourism marketing, and called on the provincial government to even the playing field by redirecting revenue from Alberta’s five-per-cent hotel tax – about $50 million a year – into tourism marketing and promotion.
“That will be a hard fight,” he admitted. “A lot of the tax today goes into general (government) revenue.”
The tax was imposed in 1987 to curb the budget deficit.
Cameron Spence, senior manager in marketing and communications for the Banff/Lake Louise Tourism Bureau, noted the economic downturn was being felt months before the terrorist attacks, but the tourism industry was anticipating a recovery by the fall of 2001.
“That changed dramatically,” Spence said.
“In the rear-view mirror on this road to recovery, we now have images of airplanes being used as human missiles, airlines folding under certain financial pressures and people being stranded (away) from home.
“All of these images have now affected the psyche of travellers around the world.”
