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Paying for direct flights not an option for Whistler: Brownlie

As U.S. resorts increase airline access following poor snow year, WB keeps eye on Pemberton airport
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After a poor 2011-2012 season for snowfall, American ski resorts have been bulking up their efforts to increase visitor numbers by raising money to pay for direct flights to nearby airports.

Using local sales taxes or other funding sources, resorts such as Sun Valley, Jackson Hole and Mammoth have spent the summer booking winter flights from major U.S. cities, making access easier in the attempt to grow new tourism business.

As reported in

Pique last issue, 77 per cent of airline passengers currently taking advantage of the American resort offers are either second-home owners or tourists. But the sales tax is also being pushed as a way to help sell more real estate and attract business people who need frequent and easier access to the outside world.

Sun Valley and nearby towns in Idaho may approve a one per cent sales tax to raise funds to pay for direct flights from large centres like San Francisco. The tax would raise $2 million and run for a five-year trial period.

A single daily direct flight from San Francisco to Sun Valley could begin in 2013, with other new major markets to follow. The San Francisco flight would bring in 20,000 visitors per year, producing an estimated $34 million stimulus to the local economy.

Total airplane seats sold for flights to Sun Valley in 2011-2012, including direct flights from Seattle and Los Angeles, already total 53,000.

Steamboat, Telluride and Crested Butte in Colorado, and Jackson in Wyoming, also currently offer revenue guarantees to airlines.

Last season, for example, Steamboat had revenue guarantees of $3.57 million, and the 2012-13 season is expected to go above $4 million following a 0.25 per cent boost to the resort's sales tax. Despite this, airplane seat numbers are expected to drop by 11 per cent in the coming season due to poor snowfall levels last winter, according to Steamboat Today.

Whistler Blackcomb's president and chief operating officer, Dave Brownlie, said in an interview that this is not an option for Whistler at this time.

"When you look at what happens in some of those U.S. resorts, they are generally local airports. To get the flights in, they need to provide the guarantee (of financial support)," he said.

"If we had a local airport, whether it was in Whistler or Pemberton, we'd certainly be in that game, but when you have an international airport such as YVR, to guarantee flights from other places actually makes it very complicated. It's something we've chosen not to do."

Brownlie said the many international flights to Vancouver International Airport from around the world means that Whistler could not be seen as supporting one airline or location at the expense of another.

"If you start providing guarantees (to one airline) then you may actually be creating an uncompetitive playing field for other airlines," he said.

"It can be a problem if you start to do that, and you may upset and actually lose flights ultimately, subsidizing something that you don't need to. It's not necessarily a good use of money. You wouldn't find airline subsidies into Denver but you will find them into resorts' specific airports."

Instead, Whistler Blackcomb has found successes in packaging together accommodation, passes and other attractions.

"As a resort, we've never guaranteed flights into YVR. We've done various programs with airlines, like a buy-down program where we, through all our bundling of products, will essentially subsidize the flight, but have never done airline guarantees," Brownlie said.

The trend for subsidized flights to American resorts has been going on for the last 20 years, he added, saying Mont Tremblant in Quebec has used similar tactics in the past.

But he acknowledged the impact in the industry when American resorts use this system.

"It's a competitive advantage to have an airport close to your resort, for sure, because of that whole ease of access that is a consideration for families... The reality is our way to step up in that arena is to have an airport built closer," Brownlie said.

"The big opportunity is probably working with the Village of Pemberton and looking at the Pemberton Airport, and they're working away and looking at different weather studies up there to see if possibly that would be a viable solution, but it's still a ways off. We'd certainly continue to encourage them because it would be a big benefit to the whole corridor, from a tourism point of view."

The Pemberton Regional Airport Authority (PRAA) published a 162-page document in 2008 entitled the Pemberton Airport Project Definition Report, which outlined a series of options the PRAA could consider if it wishes to expand the existing facility.

Options in the report for expanding the airport included extending the current runway from 3,999 feet to 6,000 feet and building a new terminal complex, which would allow public parking and space for further expansion. It was estimated in 2008 that the options would cost approximately $40.76 million.

Louise Walker, Vice president of Marketing & Strategic Planning at Tourism Whistler, agreed that the U.S. "model is very different when it comes to looking at a regional airport."

Walker added that Tourism Whistler continues to look at all options, including the potential of Pemberton Airport, lobby for new routes to Vancouver Airport, and working with business partners, including airlines.

"It is certainly something on our radar. Tourism Whistler's Board recently met with a representative of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada about some of these issues, she said.

Brownlie believes Whistler's job at this time is to surpass U.S. resorts in other ways. Most recently, for example, it was named top Canadian resort in terms of customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and commitment to promoting and growing skiing and snowboarding by the Canadian Ski Council.

"On the other end, we've got Vancouver Airport and flights from around the world, and the beautiful Sea to Sky Highway, which visitors can enjoy, so there are definitely other things we can promote."

- With files from Allen Best