Proposed shift in Family Day opposed by local businesses
Synchronizing holiday with other provinces would put B.C. in competition with other destinations, say tourism officials
Local tourism companies hope B.C.’s Family Day stays on the second Monday of February. The provincial government has expressed a desire to move Family Day to the third weekend in February to match the holiday in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and New Brunswick. It would also be on the same day as President’s Day in the United States.
However, doing so would hurt the local economy, said Tourism Kelowna CEO Lisanne Ballantyne.
“If we had to move Family Day off the second Monday in February, we would be competing with other destinations,” she said. “The fact that it’s staggered means there’s more visitors in
As of tomorrow, just about every ski resort in B.C. will be full for the next 10 days.
Michael J. Ballingall
what is traditionally a slower month for us.”
The B.C. Family Day and President’s Day weekends are two of the busiest of the year for local ski resorts, said Michael J. Ballingall, senior vice-president of sales and marketing at Big White.
“As of tomorrow, just about every ski resort in B.C. will be full for the next 10 days,” he said Thursday morning. “At Big White, it’s busier than Christmas and New Year’s, because you actually have more people in the Valley that haven’t gone away.”
Big White will be full both this weekend and next weekend, with about 7,000 more people at the resort than on a typical weekend, said Ballingall.
If B.C. moves Family Day, a lot of business will be lost, he said.
“You’re not going to make any more money,” he said. “You will lose about five to six days of good, high-occupancy business. It will become a normal early February date.”
Instead of moving B.C.’s Family Day to match other parts of Canada, the other provinces should move their Family Day to match ours, said Ballingall.
This would allow more tourists from the United States to come to Canada on their long weekend, because the ski resorts and hotels would not be as busy, he said, adding Americans typically spend 50 per cent more than Canadians at ski resorts.
Minister of Tourism Lisa Beare had not returned The Daily Courier’s phone calls by press time.