By Ian Ross
Despite the Canadian tourism industry being hit hard in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, this year continues to shape up as a solid season for Thunder Bay.
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In catering to a regional and U.S. Midwestern market not heavily reliant on air travellers, Tourism Thunder Bay manager Patricia Forrest says based on hotel occupancy numbers, "it's been a strong year" compared to 2000 with marginal increases practically every month.
"What's sustained us after Sept. 11 is our meetings and conventions business, and a strong sports tournament traffic - swim meets, hockey and golf tournaments - that was all pre-booked."
Though all the numbers are not in, tourism officials are projecting about 1.4 million visitations to the city this year, up about three per cent from 2000.
Among the agency's highlights was the hosting of the Michigan Outdoor Writers conference this summer. Though the gathering attracted only about 30 journalists, it is estimated the event garnered about a half a million dollars in free exposure for the city.
Forrest says with border crossings exactly the same as last year, up until early September, Americans heading north over the Pigeon River did not account for the increase, but rather more Canadians electing to spend their vacation dollars at home.
Though the southern Ontario tourism industry reported heavy losses in the 80 to 90 per cent range at Windsor Casino and Niagara Falls during September, Forrest does not have a handle on how the terrorist attacks impacted the industry locally. The visitations to view the fall colours and other area attractions "look strong" despite the fact hotels do not break down their numbers into American and Canadian travellers.
"The first few weeks following Sept. 11, the number of border crossings and traffic in the tourist bureau at the border was down substantially. But that bureau closes after Thanksgiving, so it's hard to really track down."
Attractions such as Old Fort William, a recreated fur trading post, continue to bring in overnight visitors, as do scenery tours and the city's presence as a regional shopping centre.
Much of the city's tourism efforts this winter are concentrated on promoting their adventure and outdoor guide. Emphasis is being placed on developing product and creating appealing outdoor activity and cultural packages for the U.S. Midwestern market and the border state of Minnesota.
By linking with a number of tourism partners, the agency promotes more than 20 fall, winter and spring weekend getaway packages for the Thunder Bay area, including back-country excursions, snow shoeing, cross-border ski tours, dog-sledding, outdoor photography, craft workshops and winter camping opportunities.
The main thrust of their current work is to work on a new brochure for their 2002 campaign which focusses on promotion of special events by taking to the road and delivering a "more personal approach" through activities in Duluth, Minneapolis and Two Harbours, Minn.
The agency is partnering with the province and dipping into their $10-million post-Sept. 11 funding for a new tourism strategy for campaigns in Minneapolis, Duluth and Winnipeg and promoting their packages and marketing inserts in Midwestern newspapers.
From Northern Ontario outfitters, hotel and resort operators, the initial feedback into the Northern Tourism Marketing Company (NTMC) is that the Sept. 11 impact was not as greatly felt as the southern Ontario tourism industry, which feeds off of American and overseas long-haul markets.
Ron Zizman, president of NTMC, says there were some cancellations in September, but generally circumstances now, and in the long run, favour rural and northern destinations, deemed safe places to travel instead of major resort destinations requiring air travel.
Currently they are compiling research data for the year, expected to be ready by mid-December, but the general consensus across the north is that the Sept. 11 events appear to have had little impact on the industry.
"I'm pretty impressed with how resilient our marketplace is, but that's indicative of the trend toward adverturism and destination vacations," Zizman says.
Zizman says his group plans on running an aggressive campaign this winter to highlight the various cities and seasonal festivities, not so much to offset any negative impacts from September, but to stay competitive against other Canadian provinces by attracting Americans from border states.
