The 2003 tourism season presented some extraordinary challenges to an industry already facing outstanding issues, such as fallout from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a number of nagging trade disputes between Canada and the United States, local tourism operators and groups say.
In this area, tourist outfitters have reported business was generally down from last year, but not substantially so.
“It’s down about 15 percent,” said Tom Pearson, president of the North Western Ontario Tourism Association (NWOTA).
Pearson, who owns and operates Camp Narrows Lodge on Rainy Lake, said his business also was affected by about the same extent, although other operators have reported income losses as high as 30 percent.
The cause, Pearson claimed, is a number of factors—not the least of which is the lack of effective advertising by the province of the north’s tourism attractions.
“What I’m seeing is Ontario’s not doing its job,” he remarked. “If we don’t start marketing and treating people right, we’re going to lose them.
“We have the product, but the word’s not getting out enough,” he stressed.
Pearson then cited examples of where the word is getting out—but it’s a negative message.
“We keep getting reports of hassles at the border from people who have been convicted of DUI [driving under the influence] in the past,” he said. “We’re hearing it from everybody.”
Other issues Pearson’s concerned about include the high Canadian dollar and the cancellation of the spring bear hunt four years ago.
He said the dollar has been “a major hit” for many operators—especially those who quote their prices in U.S. dollars—but that’s something beyond the control of operators and the government.
He feels operators eventually will make the adjustment once the Canadian dollar stabilizes at its new level.
The spring bear hunt is another matter. Pearson said he feels the problem extends beyond the loss of revenue to tourist operators and eventually will become a safety issue for tourists and residents alike.
He feels it’s no coincidence that there have been increasing reports of nuisance bears and it’s just a matter of time before someone gets hurt. Here, he says, the public—not just tourist operators—should get involved.
“I hope that every family—every mother—writes the Toronto Star and the premier and tells them they’re afraid to let their kids outside because there’s a 500-pound bear in the back yard,” he remarked.
Pearson said he believes the nuisance bear problem may be greater than is publicly known because in some cases, people are simply shooting the bears and not reporting it.
Furthermore, he believes the anti-spring bear hunt lobby is misinformed on the relationship between spring hunts and orphaned cubs.
“People don’t understand that most of the bears shot in the spring were males,” he explained. “They also don’t realize male bears kill and eat cubs. Perhaps that’s why we’re now seeing fewer cubs, not more.”
Others are more philosophical about the bear hunt.
Dale LaBelle, owner of LaBelle’s Birch Point Camp on Northwest Bay, said he’s resigned to the loss of the spring bear hunt and that it’s time to move on.
“I’d like to see them bring it back, but it’s not going to happen,” he remarked.
For LaBelle, the rising Canadian dollar is a bigger issue. Unlike some other operators, LaBelle quotes his packages in Canadian currency so his clients always know exactly what they’re paying.
Of course, the operator doesn’t always know how much it’s worth to him—and that’s where the future becomes risky.
“That’s going to hurt more next year,” he predicted. “We list our prices in Canadian dollars because I think it’s more fair.”
Doug Lampi of Atikokan is president-elect of the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce (NOACC) and also runs an Internet marketing business. He, too, has noticed business is down between 15 and 30 percent, though the figures vary from place to place.
He said operators in Sunset Country appear to be doing better than those in other parts of the province. He also feels the firearms registry and spring bear hunt are old news to most clients and they have made the adjustment.
“We’re past that one now, we’ve swallowed that pill,” he remarked. “Those who will make the adjustment already have.”
For Lampi, people being turned back at the border presents a greater problem, but even that, he said, can be overcome if the government loosens its rules.
The good news is Northwestern Ontario will continue to attract deer hunters from south of the border because the prices are competitive—despite the rising loonie.
“Since Northwestern Ontario has the reputation for being the cheapest place to go for deer hunting, there’s room to increase our prices to compensate for the rising dollar,” he explained.
Gerry Cariou, executive director of the Sunset Country Travel Association, said his research confirms Lampi’s observations—business was down slightly, but not to a great extent and not universally.
“Most of the people say it was down a little bit and some were down 20 percent, but overall it’s not bad,” he noted. “Throughout the summer, there was an uneven impact from SARS, but not nearly as bad as it was down east [southern Ontario].
“Considering all the problems, we did well in relation to other regions of Ontario, but some of the fly-in businesses have suffered,” he added.
Jack Pope can confirm that. He’s operated Northwest Flying Inc. near Nestor Falls for 30 years and says there’s been a steady decline over the last two or three years.
“There’s no good news,” he said bluntly.
Pope cited the high dollar, SARS, “mad cow” disease, border issues, and the loss of the spring bear hunt as a threat to the tourism industry.
“I’ve been in this business for 30 years, but I don’t see how it will survive another 30 [years] at this rate,” he warned. “I’m down to a four-month season now. I’m done in mid-September.”
Other fly-in operators see the glass as half-full.
Vic Davis is the owner-operator of Northern Wilderness Outfitters on Rainy Lake just east of Fort Frances. He has been in the business for 34 years and this one was good for him because he has a regular client base, but he feels the industry itself is in jeopardy.
“We had a good year,” he said. “But across Canada it’s been down—big-time.
“There are a lot things going against the tourism business,” Davis remarked, citing the high dollar as one, but one that eventually will be absorbed by the industry.
For Davis, the major irritant and potential threat to the industry is the number of American tourists being turned back at the Canadian border due to DUI convictions.
“The word is out there and it travels fast,” he remarked. “You cannot talk to anybody in tourism who has not had a party turned back.”
According to Davis, the word also is spreading south of the border and that is causing some people to change their travel plans—taking their tourist dollars elsewhere. And that, he says, is causing real damage.
“As I understand it, one in every 10 Minnesota drivers has a DUI and since the average party coming across has five people, every second group might have someone who is challenged and turned back by Immigration,” he noted.
Davis stressed he is not soft on drunk driving, but he feels there should be a way to weed out the chronic offenders without hurting Northwestern Ontario’s tourism industry.
“Look, for most people, being charged and convicted of drunk driving is probably the most traumatic thing that ever happens to them,” he reasoned. “Most people get the message and straighten out.
“My solution [for DUI] is for the federal government to pass a law that says if you have two DUIs, we don’t want you,” he argued.
To do otherwise, he said, could cause permanent damage to a long-established industry that supports thousands of people. “It took 100 years to build up tourism and only two to break it down,” he lamented.
Davis feels the government is moving well in other areas, however. For one, he’s found the federal firearms registry is not proving to be the irritant that many feared it would be.
“The people at the border have been great,” he enthused. “They’ve done a really good job. Sure it’s an inconvenience, but it’s not a big deal.”
As far as the high loonie is concerned, Davis feels everyone who can make the adjustment will do so. His solution has been to invest more in advertising than he has in previous years.
“I spent 25 percent more on advertising this year and it’s paid off,” he noted. “If you have a good product, you can sell it. That’s the bottom line.”
