Paul Luke
Province
Yankee, please don’t go home.
Canadian hotels will emerge from red ink this year but will continue struggling with a drop in U.S. visitors, the Conference Board of Canada says.
The industry will make a modest profit of $236 million this year, bouncing back from a loss of $87 million in 2006, the board said yesterday.
“Most of the improvement in profitability will be the result of growth in demand for travel both by Canadians and by foreigners travelling to Canada,” the board said.
But profit margins will remain thin this year and profits will shrink in 2008 as U.S. passport requirements expand to cover anyone travelling to or from the U.S. by land or sea, the board said.
Stephen Pearce, Tourism Vancouver’s leisure travel vice-president, said the U.S. and Japanese markets will remain challenging for the Greater Vancouver industry this year.
U.S. and Japanese overnight visits are expected to fall by one per cent each in 2007, Pearce said.
The strong loon has hurt Canada in those markets, coupled with U.S. passport rules and growing Japanese interest in Asian destinations, Pearce said.
Canada is losing its share of outbound U.S. business because it is being outgunned by other global destinations willing to spend more on marketing, Pearce said.
Still, overnight visits in the Vancouver area should grow by two per cent this year, thanks to strength in the Canadian, Chinese and Mexican markets, Pearce said.
“It’s reasonable to think we’re going to be capitalizing on interest in the Olympics a little sooner than we thought originally,” Pearce said.
Last year, Greater Vancouver posted 8.7 million overnight visits, up from 8.6 million in 2005.
In a vote of confidence in Vancouver, Los Angeles-based Kor Hotel Group said yesterday it will soon launch the $35-million Loden, the first new hotel in downtown Vancouver in five years. The 14-storey, 130-room hotel in Coal Harbour opens in late summer.
© The Vancouver Province 2007
