The Buzz starts out this month with some big figures, and equally big concerns, for the province’s foremost economic engine. Regional reps from throughout our tourism sector gathered at The Prestige Lakeside Resort for the Kootenay Rockies Tourism 47th Annual General Meeting. Little know huge fact: Kootenay Rockies pumps $1.9 billion into the region’s economy. Every year. Across BC, tourism drums up $19 billion a year — making it the province’s number one sector — bigger than forestry, oil and gas and agriculture.
Kootenay Rockies boss Kathy Cooper told the delegation a lot of British Columbians don’t realize how vital tourism is to the province. Here in the Kootenay Rockies jurisdiction — from Arrow Lakes to the ‘Berta border, and from the US line to Kinbasket Lake up north — over 7,300 people rely on the sector for paycheques, from one of the region’s 760 tourism-related business.
Despite a couple record earning years for some businesses and destination marketing regions following the pandemic, these are increasingly challenging times for tourism.
Ingrid Jarrett, President/CEO of the BC Hotel Association, noted on-going holidayer setbacks due to forest fires, smoke, shrinking snow packs and disposable incomes too, and more still for tourism’s small businesses themselves, with rising costs across the board and lingering post-COVID debt load.
“(Tourism providers) make all (their) revenues in five months to cover all the red ink to come over the next six,” Jarrett says. “And now that five-month window is closer to four,” she adds, noting that increasingly regular traveller advisories due to smoke and flame, plus out-of-context major market media reports, are sending travellers elsewhere during the month of August.
Slocan Valley tourism businesses know that better than most of their BC counterparts. The Nelson Star reported last week on the damage the valley’s myriad fires had on bookings this summer.
Due to lagging feedback from the sector, overall stats on summer tourism numbers in Southern BC are still fairly anecdotal. Parts of the Okanagan saw a downturn of about 30 per cent. Long-haul visitation from international markets hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic numbers anywhere in BC. Some higher end Kootenay accommodators saw a 10-15 per cent drop in bookings. Some Kootenay food and beverage provisions say their summer numbers were down around 20 per cent.
Proponents for the Hallō Nelson golf and residential project have been making dozens of calls a day for the past five weeks in a bid to garner preliminary support for the proposed $500-million project. In more recent national press — a story in the Western Investor last month — developer Farhad Ebrahimi said “Hallo is going to be the No. 1 lifestyle and entertainment development in the whole country.”
Speaking on Kootenay Co-op Radio this week, Ebrahimi and realty associate Ryan Stolz say they are not at all surprised by the pushback the development has received from the group HellNōHallō
“I’m not surprised at all. Nelson is a special place. When people push back they care, and that’s fantastic. But they don’t have complete information,” Ebrahimi said.
In order to create more affordable housing among ōallo’s proposed 300 units, the HellNoHallō group has asked Ebrahimi and partner Graham Kwan to reduce the substantial in-home amenities included in the plan’s first phase of 24 fairway-side units, thereby lowering prices from nearly $2 million to $900K. The group has also asked that Hallō gift Granite Pointe’s third fairway for affordable housing.
Ebrahimi and Stolz feel the intent of the HellNō group’s affordable housing requests are “fantastic,” but logistically not possible.
The development, Ebrahimi added, is aimed at being over 50 per cent affordable in nature.
Two more quick updates: there’s no new name for the development yet, now that “The Dodger” has been ditched, nor is there a final decision to close Granite Pointe next season, and the season after, to make way for a massive redesign. That’ll come by December 31.
With winter on the way, Whitewater is saying so-long to General Manager Rebeckah Hornung, who arrived the same year as the Glory Chair 14 seasons ago, in 2010, as Sales and Marketing Director, fresh off her honours grad from the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business.
“It was a dream job then and still is,” says the born-n’-raised Nova Scotian. “When I was offered the job, I felt like I had won the life lottery.”
Hornung says she’ll “cherish every single moment at the mountain,” through Whitewater’s 40th anniversary, the arrival of the new Summit and Raven chairs, developments including the Hummingbird Lodge and even the harrowing days of the pandemic.
“We’re sad to see Rebeckah leave,” says Whitewater co-owner Mitch Putnam. “She’s been a very passionate and integral member of the Whitewater team for 14 years. Her leadership, hard work and dedication helped guide the business through many successes and a few challenges over the years.”
Hornung starts her new gig as … General Manager at Baldface Lodge … later this month.
Putnam says there’s been lots of interest in their search for a new GM. We’ll have more on the new boss next column.
This post was originally published on here
