By Jen Saltman
As a result of less tourists coming through Ottawa this summer, some tour operators have suffered, while those dependant on weather have prospered.
According to the Ottawa Tourism and Convention Authority (OTCA) the number of tourists that have passed through Ottawa this summer is lower than last year.
As of the end of July 2001, the number of people staying in hotels has gone down 3.84 per cent since last year.
The number of people staying overnight on bus trips has gone down 17.4 per cent.
“Numbers have dropped off quite a bit, but the reasons have yet to pop up to the surface,” says Martin Winges, director of research and information at OTCA.
“From the government and corporate aspect, we have also felt the effects.”
On the bright side, Winges says that independent leisure travel, a category that includes the tourists from this summer’s Jeux de la Francophonie, “is still quite strong.”
Jean Besner, part owner of Amphibus Lady Dive Tours, says that although the company won’t have figures for summer 2001 until the end of November, this year was definitely better for business than last year.
He attributes his success this year to more buses operating within Ottawa and the fact that the weather was better this year than last.
“We’ve had a good year. There was a little bad luck in the first four days, but all was fantastic after that,” says Besner.
The Ottawa Riverboat Company Ltd. had an experience similar to Lady Dive, with an increase in the number of sightseers from last year, when it rained almost non-stop, to this year.
“We are very weather-sensitive and last year hurt us dramatically. Our numbers are back to what they were about a year ago,” says Wayne Tucker, comptroller at the Ottawa Riverboat Company Ltd.
Tucker didn’t deny that the company is feeling the effects of the “tech meltdown.”
The number of groups and charters has been down in the past few years, but he said that the general trend so far this year is an increase.
One company that experienced a drop in tourism is Capital Double Decker and Trolley Tours.
Jennifer Hirst, vice-president of sales and marketing, says that there has been a 20 per cent decline in tourists since last year, although the final figures aren’t out until the end of this year.
She attributes this drop to a number of things: a decrease in travel in general, the fact that those involved with the Jeux de la Francophonie were filling space in hotel rooms, but not necessarily going on tours, and an expansion in the tourism market, where more operators are vying for the same number of tourists.
“You have to compete, to get into all different markets,” said Hirst.
“We’ve always done it.”