By Laura Murton
Tourists coming to the capital region on bus tours may be turning their visits into day trips.
According to a recent study by the Ottawa Tourism and Convention Authority, the only hotels that can guarantee tourist space are outside of the downtown, or even outside the city.
Doug Wotherspoon, owner of Capital Trolley Tours in Ottawa, says due to hotel shortage, Kingston and Cornwall are becoming popular overnight spots for tourists visiting the capital.
“When there are no places for people to stay, it hurts. . . my market is 90 per cent from true tourists,” says Wotherspoon. He adds that with the exception of July and August, Ottawa hotels are filled with corporate travellers and conferences, making it difficult for tourists to find rooms.
Wotherspoon has had to find other means to make money when Ottawa hotels are saturated with business people.
“During those months, we shift our focus from sightseeing to charter operations. . . We have to get creative and go after the business clientele,” he says.
Laurie Peters, media spokesperson for the National Capital Commission says the NCC adapts their business to incorporate the business traveller too.
“We try to convert the business traveller into a leisure traveller; when [conventions] are here, they may go for a skate on the canal,” she says.
Louise Crandall, corporate services manager for the Ottawa Tourism and Convention Authority, says American tours have begun to either bypass Ottawa altogether, or to adjust their itineraries to visit Ottawa just for the day.
“Bus tours account for a lot in Ottawa’s economy, but not as much as business conventions,” says Crandall.
Apart from rooms being filled with corporate travellers, the loss of tours to Ottawa can be attributed to the 9.7 per cent hike in hotel rates, says Crandall.
John Cosentino, General Manager of Best Western Victoria Park Suites and the Albert at Bay Suites hotel says he does his best to accommodate both leisure and corporate travellers equally.
“It’s too risky to hold rooms,” he says.
Don Blakslee, General Manager of the Lord Elgin and president of Ottawa Hoteliers Inc., says “when you call [to reserve a room], do we ask whether you are a tourist or a business person?”
Doug Little, marketing and communications manager for the Tulip Festival, says bus tours to the festival were down 30 per cent this year, but he doesn’t hold local hotels responsible.
“I don’t believe hotels are the bad guys,” he says. “Business travellers are willing to pay more than tourists. This is affecting a market that we like to work with. . . so we’re going to work with each tour operator to help them find accommodations for next year.”
Blakslee says there is enough room to house tourists in the capital region, but they may have to stay in the outskirts.
Little agrees that tours for next year’s Tulip Festival may have to stay in Kanata, Gloucester, or even Cornwall.
Little acknowledges that tourist spending is important to Ottawa’s economy, and says he’s working hard to bring the tour bus industry back to the festival.
Crandall says although tourists can still make it to local attractions, they may not be staying overnight in the city as often. She says this reduces economic benefits to Ottawa.
Crandall adds that lack of hotel space is an early warning that tourists may begin bypassing Ottawa altogether.
By Christmas, there will be 675 new rooms in hotels across the region, mostly on the outskirts of the city, but Crandall says there is still a need for more. She says she suspects many travellers are waiting until the year 2000 to pay a visit to the capital region.