VANCOUVER

A slowing economy and a sharp drop in travel following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have caused the number of international visitors to B.C. to fall below last year's pace -- the first annual tourism decline in nearly 10 years.

Tourism BC reported Thursday the number of international overnight visitors to the province dropped by 9.5 per cent in October to 251,300 and total visitation for the first 10 months of the year fell by nearly one per cent to 4,460,000.

Tourism BC president Rod Harris expects further drops in November and December will cause total international visits to B.C. in 2001 to fall five per cent below last year.

"I am in my ninth year now and I have never seen this happen before," he said. "I suppose the Gulf Crisis in 1992 would have caused a similar situation."

Earlier this year, the B.C. tourism industry was expected to contribute $9.7 billion to the B.C. economy in 2001 -- up from $9.5 billion last year -- but the total industry contribution now is expected to fall to around $9.2 billion.

Harris said Tourism BC estimates hotel tax revenue throughout the province fell by 7.4 per cent in October, which represents a loss of about $600,000 from the same month last year. Revenues in November, December and January are expected to fall by an average of 14 per cent.

About 20 per cent of hotel tax revenues in B.C. are used to fund Tourism BC marketing efforts.

Harris said more of the Crown corporation's marketing dollars are being focused on promoting B.C. in key U.S. and Canadian markets, especially short-haul markets like Alberta and Washington.

Tourism Vancouver president Rick Antonson said the industry is trying to rebound from the tremendous loss of business that occurred after Sept. 11, but it remains a severe challenge.

"Travel is a fundamental freedom and travel drives our economy, but we will never take either for granted again," he said. "This is a slow process of recovery that we will get through."

Tourism Vancouver said in a news release Thursday it is back to pre-Sept. 11 activity in terms of attracting more meeting and convention business to the city.

A high-level sales mission to Washington, D.C. in March will see the general managers of 10 Vancouver convention hotels promote the city to major U.S. convention planners.

Tourism Vancouver has a goal to attract 18 citywide conventions to Vancouver next year, compared with 17 in 2001. A citywide convention is defined as a meeting where delegates occupy a minimum of 1,000 hotel rooms on the peak night of the convention.  - by Bruce Constantineau       Vancouver Sun

A year ago, tourism was considered one of the few bright spots of a troubled B.C. economy.

If there was a silver lining to be found in the province, forecasters usually found it in the $9.5-billion sector that directly employs 111,000 people.

However, a slowing global economy and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has forced tourism officials everywhere to drastically rethink their immediate futures.

Tourism Vancouver has predicted that cutbacks in travel during the last quarter of 2001 and the first quarter of 2002 will result in a loss of between 700,000 and 1.3 million visitors to Greater Vancouver.

That translates into lost revenue of between $288 million and $577 million.

Fewer visitors means less hotel tax revenue

which means fewer dollars for marketing agencies suc h as Tourism Vancouver and Tourism B.C.

It's a scenario that worries industry representatives because it has the potential to become a lingering downward spiral.

"Just when we need more money, there is less available," said Tourism Vancouver president Rick Antonson. "It means we need to reexamine how to best use all our resources. It means trimming some programs and perhaps trimming some human resources."

He said most tourism operators should adopt a realistic approach now and look at 2002 and 2003 as "years of recovery." In other words, forget about rapid growth.

"When I talk with colleagues around North America, it just reinforces that these are going to be deeply challenging times," Antonson said.

Much of the B.C. industry's attention these days is focused on two projects: winning the right to host the 2010 Winter Olympics and obtaining the funding for a proposed $495-million Vancouver convention centre expansion.

However, those are long term projects that won't draw visitors for several years. In the meantime, Antonson said it's vital to attract business wherever you can find it.

"For example, we're looking at business shifting from other parts of the world that now wants to take place in North American and Canada, where we are seen as perhaps a safer and more trusted destination," he said.

"We also must make sure that all business on the books [for Vancouver] in 2002 and 2003 stays on the books and doesn't slip to a competing destination. We want to fight any stay-within-the-U.S.A. mentality among U.S meeting planners and travellers."

Despite the general downturn in B.C. tourism expected, there are positive signs on the horizon. Antonson said the city expects "decent" convention business next year, including a Shriners convention in June that's expected to attract between 18,000 and 20,000 delegates.

The Vancouver-Alaska cruise-ship industry also expects a 2002 as several new ships will be redeployed to the route, considered a safe area in these troubled times.

Antonson said the expected success of the cruise business next year prompted Tourism Vancouver recently to change a 50,000-piece direct mail campaign to the U.S. The physical size of the brochures was reduced but the number of mailouts was increased to 300,000.

Tourism B.C. president Rod Harris said the provincial Crown corporation is drafting business plans next year that call for hotel revenue drops of five per cent, 10 per cent and 15 per cent.

The number of international visitors to B.C. this year is expected to fall by five per cent and Harris said another five per cent drop is likely in 2002.

He said it could take up to four years before the province returns to pre-Sept. 11 levels.

"It's like the stock market because at first, there's a big drop," Harris said. "Then suddenly there's attractive growth rates but it still takes a period of time to get back to where you were and that is a big concern."

Since hotel revenues are declining and Tourism B.C. is funded by a provincial hotel room tax, he said it now loses ground to competing jurisdictions such as Ontario and Quebec that receive direct government funding.

"As a province, we have fewer resources while other jurisdictions gain a greater presence in the market," Harris said.

Premier Gordon Campbell recently challenged the B.C. industry to double its contribution to provincial coffers from $1 billion to $2 billion within five years.

Harris said Tourism B.C. is working on a plan that would make that happen and part of it would clearly involve more marketing dollars for tourism.

Tourism B.C. receives about 20 per cent of an eight-per-cent provincial hotel tax and the industry has long argued it should receive half of the tax revenue to properly market the province throughout the world.

Harris said some of the big drivers for B.C. tourism next year include the over-all state of the provincial economy -- and how that could discourage domestic tourism -- and the need for improved air access to destinations throughout the province.

Antonson said one positive outcome of the industry's recent problems has been the education it has given to many policy makers.

"Elected officials now know tourism and its ripple effect are absolutely key to a healthy economy, so we will see more public policy that encourages tourism and travel."  -  by Bruce Constantineau   December 27, 2001 Vancouver Sun

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