Calgary seeks new travel markets amid downturn
Overseas, U.S. visits on the upswing as domestic, business travel take a hit
Calgary’s tourism industry is benefiting from a significant uptick in U.S. and international visitors, even as the economic downturn continues to take a bite out of domestic and business travel.
New numbers from the Conference Board of Canada show overseas visits to Calgary were up 12 per cent in 2016, and are predicted to increase by another eight per cent this year. U.S. visits increased by eight per cent last year and are expected to grow by an additional three per cent in 2017.
The increase in long-haul visitors has been welcome news for local tourism operators, who otherwise have had little to cheer about over the last two years of oil pricedriven recession. Calgary — whose tourism industry has traditionally skewed heavily toward the business travel market — saw 800,000 fewer visitors in 2016 compared to the previous year, a dive that translated to a loss of $100 million in tourism revenue for the city.
“Twenty-five per cent of our tourism business used to be business travellers, and in most cities, it’s 11 per cent, so that’s a big differential,” said Tourism Calgary CEO Cindy Ady, following the organization’s AGM on Wednesday. “But we’ve been working in the leisure space to try to backfill some of that business piece, and we’re starting to see the benefits of that work.”
Some of the growth in international travel is due to a favourable exchange rate, said Greg Hermus, associate director with the Conference Board of Canada. But Calgary has also benefited from expanded air access, like WestJet’s new flights to London-Gatwick and the 2016 launch of Hainan Airlines’ non-stop service from YYC to Beijing, China.
According to the Calgary Airport Authority, inbound and outbound passenger traffic at YYC to and from the U.S. is up 6.1 per cent year to date and international traffic is up nine per cent to date. Those numbers should tick higher on June 1, when Aeromexico is set to begin non-stop service between Calgary and Mexico City. In 2016, Canada lifted the visa requirement for Mexican travellers, and the country is expected to be the strongest source of tourism growth this year nationally this year — with an estimated increase of 28.3 per cent, according to the Conference Board.
On the public relations side, numerous national, provincial, and municipal tourism organizations — including Tourism Calgary and Travel Alberta — have shifted resources to the U.S. market and launched major marketing campaigns to attract more U.S. travellers. “You’ve seen places like Travel Alberta be quite progressive in doing more with the U.S.,” Hermus said, adding that Canada is also likely benefiting from its reputation as a safe and secure destination compared to other parts of the world that have been rocked by political volatility and terrorist attacks.
With the Alberta economy showing early signs of recovery so far in 2017, both the Conference Board and Tourism Calgary are expecting total visitor numbers to return to positive growth this year, somewhere in the range of three per cent overall. But Ady said even if the lucrative business travel market begins to rebound this year, the local tourism industry is determined not to give up the gains it has been experiencing on the international leisure travel front.
“Everyone would love to see business travel return, because it’s a very good piece of business,” Ady said. “We’re just saying let’s not be so heavily dependent on it. Let’s have a balance in the market.”