Tourism down but help on the way

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

COVID-19 has slowed Alberta’s tourism industry, but help is on the way.

According to Strathmore Town Councillor Denise Peterson, Strathmore’s tourism industry, which consists largely of people coming to town for events, has also been hit hard by COVID-19.

“From Strathmore’s perspective in tourism, we are a tertiary tourism location – people aren’t coming here to see dinosaurs,” said Peterson, who is the elected representative on the town’s tourism committee. “Our tourism industry is based on that tertiary side: weddings, sports tournaments (and) ag society events.”

Indeed, COVID-19 has meant fewer people are travelling and less destinations are open. These trends are indicated by data presented in the latest installment of the Alberta Tourism Market Monitor, a monthly report by the province.

There are far less people on Alberta’s major thoroughfares. Westbound traffic on the Trans-Canada Highway at the Alberta-Saskatchewan border was down by about 42 per cent in April compared to last year, according to the report. 

Many destinations have shuttered their doors. All of Alberta’s historic sites and museums were closed throughout April. Some were open at the start of March, but visitations were still down 79 per cent that month compared to the previous year.

These trends appear to have hurt tourism jobs. Employment within the accommodation and food service industries in Alberta is down by about 46 per cent from last year.

Alberta announced on March 27 it was limiting maximum gathering sizes to 15 people alongside other restrictions made in response to COVID-19. Even with Alberta’s stage one relaunch underway, indoor gatherings are still limited to 15 people unless otherwise identified in public health orders.

With these restrictions in place many events are cancelled. The fallout from these cancellations comes right across the town’s tourism sector. 

“We have been 100 per cent wiped out for all of our large gatherings,” said Peterson. “Restaurants, hotels and the town event centres are all impacted significantly.”

Within Strathmore, one the greatest blows to the tourism sector were cancellations of weddings booked at the Klaiber Historical Barn, said Peterson. 

“These are usually quite large affairs, typically,” she noted. “They almost always utilize the Strathmore Civic Centre for their meal and dance venue, so that means the town has lost revenue as well.”

Fewer weddings at the barn also means less funding for local historic work, as some revenue from bookings supports the Western District Historical Society, said Peterson.

Hotels have been hurt too. In response, the provincial government announced new supports for hotels and other lodging providers. In Alberta, all providers of temporary accommodation with more than four bedrooms available for rent collect a four per cent of the purchase price of accommodation as tourism levy. These funds are normally remitted to the Alberta Finance Tax and Revenue Administration. To help these businesses, the province announced on May 19 it is allowing them to keep money collected from the tourism levy between March 1 and Dec. 31, 2020. The change will provide between $16 million and $27 million in additional cash flow for the sector, according to the provincial government.

Wyndham Hotels, which manages Travelodge, was contacted for comment on the measure, but no response was provided.

Wheatland County appreciates these measures the government of Alberta is taking to support tourism, said Reeve Amber Link, in a statement. “Tourism is a significant and growing industry in Wheatland and has been impacted substantially by COVID and the public health measures that have been put in place.”

With international travel sidelined, there is a chance that more people might explore and recreate more locally as restrictions are lifted. Canadians Badlands Tourism is currently working on a digital “experience guide” by “gathering as much as we can to populate it with great information,” said Lonna Hoggan, executive director, in a statement.

Supporting the local tourism industry “is really about staying connected and offering information and support to the region right now,” she said. “We saw a lot of visitation to the Canadian Badlands last weekend and still hope that tourists will be able to fully enjoy the region in 2020.”