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Long weekend provides grounds for optimism

Summer bookings strong in June and weather expected to provide relief
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Things are looking up. Although it was one of the coldest Canada Day/U.S. Independence Day long weekends in recent memory that didn't stop people from making the trip to Whistler.

The crowds in the village were a welcome sight for local businesses that have had to contend with highway construction, fluctuating exchange rates, a new passport requirement, the Olympic aversion affect and a cool, wet spring and start to summer.

Although Tourism Whistler won't have concrete room numbers available until next month, the evidence of a strong start to summer was all around this weekend with a busy Village Stroll, busy parks and busy trails.

Roger Soane, the general manager of the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, confirmed strong bookings through the weekend and an occupancy rate of 94 per cent on Saturday night. The B.C. Bike Race, which wrapped up at Blackcomb Base on Saturday afternoon, helped boost the hotel's numbers.

"We had expected to be busy and were booked well in advance, which is a nice change these days," said Soane. "It's hard to say if it would have been as busy (without) the B.C. Bike Race, but walking around the village it seemed relatively busy."

Soane said business was slow in May and June, which he attributes to the weather. Looking ahead, the hotel's projections for July are down slightly when compared to 2009, which was a record year for the Chateau.

"It picked up so well last year, and I think to repeat that is a little too optimistic," he said.

However, with good weather and the trend of last minute bookings, Soane says anything is possible. The fact that Whistler is offering great deals on accommodation is helping, he says. But given that every resort has lowered prices as a result of the recession, the real advantage for Whistler is the value - the price and the quality of the experience, as well as the number of activities that are available.

In terms of the B.C. Bike Race, Soane - the chair of Tourism Whistler - says Whistler should strive to bring events and attractions to town every weekend.

"I'm a great believer for creating activities within the village and as a destination, and giving people more reason to come here," he said. "I think it will be a great opportunity when the Celebration Plaza opens next year to have some wonderful events there. From what I see it will be a great venue for outdoor concerts, outdoor shows, and a great series of events through the summer months utilizing that space.

"The B.C. Bike Race was a great event, good exposure for the resort, and international - people came from everywhere. We need to do more of that."

Joey Gibbons, the owner of Gibbons Hospitality Group - Buffalo Bill's, Tapley's Pub and the Longhorn Saloon and Grill in Whistler - would agree.

His own experience through the long weekend was that business was fine but not spectacular.

"It wasn't very busy in the village in the nighttime to be fair," he said. "I was out Saturday night walking around and it wasn't as busy as you would expect for the long weekend. The village was not as animated as it has been in the past. It was pretty cold at night, so it wasn't a real summer evening like we've had in the past."

Gibbons is encouraged by community efforts to look to the future and make the resort more competitive now that the Olympic Games are over.

"The chamber (of commerce), Tourism Whistler - all the major groups and little associations are meeting and listening to the community," he said. "Everybody seems to understand the issues and has some really good ideas where to go from here.

"When the Olympics came we focused on that for many years, and kind of lost track of how important all those other events are... it seems we lost that focus a little bit. But it sounds like a lot of people are working to bring that focus back."

Gibbons says Whistler has to get back to the past, "when Whistler kicked ass - there was an event every single weekend in the village, whether it was a race from the peak to the lake, the Porsche weekend, the Corvette weekend - there was always something happening. Now it seems we've become very weather-dependent."

While Gibbons says the highway makes it easier for people to come to Whistler, it also makes it easier to stay at home. Rather than commit, people can now make last-minute decisions based on the weather.

Events are the exception, he says, and he would like to see Whistler collaborate on a 52-week calendar and try to fill it with events every week.

Whistler Blackcomb has had to adjust to the weather as well, offering tubing and snowshoeing in the alpine of Whistler Mountain while the snowpack lasts. Both have been very popular.

According to chief operating officer Dave Brownlie, Whistler Blackcomb is happy with its numbers over the long weekend.

"We had a great weekend from Thursday through Sunday, and the better the weather got the more visits we had up the mountain," he said.

Among other things, Whistler Blackcomb opened the Peak Chair to sightseers this week. They can also rent snowshoes to walk back down to the Roundhouse.

"A lot of our summer visitors have never experienced snow before, so the ability to get up and into the snow was a great experience for them," said Brownlie. "And there have been a lot of bear sightings from the gondola and base areas, which our visitors love to see.

"What's interesting is that we've gone through May and June, which I would say were less than average from the overall weather and warmth point of view... and we're on track with last year, which was spectacular weather," he said. "We're excited to see what we can do with decent weather, and I can say the last few days have been tremendous. When the weather gets better I think we'll see this resort really hop. We don't have facts or figures, but in the end I think we'll experience a better summer than last year."

That said, Brownlie says travellers are more frugal in the past and less likely to make big purchases - although they are still spending.

"Instead of the $200 bottle of wine people might buy a $50 bottle. Or instead of the expensive memento they'll buy a T-shirt. There's still a bit of caution out there, and people are still downsizing a bit."

For its part, Tourism Whistler is hoping to post numbers for June shortly, but expects those to be down. However, looking ahead there is actually some good news.

"July is actually looking quite good and pacing ahead of where we were expecting things to be," said Arlene Schieven, vice president of marketing for Tourism Whistler. "Right now we're pacing six per cent ahead (of last year) but we were forecast to be down three per cent. We'll have to see where it comes in, last summer there were so many last minute bookings so our pace reports are only one indicator. We may not see the full six per cent, or we could be ahead."

The forecast for August was a drop of 10 per cent over last year's record numbers, and that has been revised to a 13 per cent drop based on early bookings. However, Schieven expects that the actual number of visitors will be higher once last minute bookings are factored in.

"It's very hard (to forecast)," she said. "It's just unbelievable how many bookings are made in the month for the month, and summers are generally so weather dependent. Yesterday when the sun came out our phones started ringing at Whistler.com."

For September, the resort is pacing 43 per cent ahead of last year, which Schieven attributes to group bookings and the sold out RBC GranFondo Whistler ride, which will bring 4,000 road riders and their families, friends and crews to Whistler on Sept. 11.

Overall, Schieven expects the summer of 2010 to be down two or three per cent compared to last summer, but still on pace to be one of Whistler's best ever summers. Original forecasts made in the spring suggested that business could be down 10 per cent.

Ben Day, director of sales and operations for Whistler.com - a booking agency owned by the municipality and operated by Tourism Whistler - says the phones have been busier recently.

"I have my positive hat on, and I'm usually pretty skeptical," he told Pique on Tuesday. "We've had a couple of tough years, no question, and we're always a bit nervous but we keep on growing and adding great products."

Phone traffic started to pick up in June, some of it for the Canada Day/Independence Day long weekend. Whistler.com fielded 10 per cent more calls and 20 per cent more reservations than June of 2009, setting a record for calls and inquiries. Calls for August and September are starting to come in, he said, as well as twice as many early bookings for next December and January.

"I wouldn't say we had a humdinger 99 per cent booked long weekend, but we certainly saw a bump and we're encouraged that more people are booking early. There has been a tremendous pickup, with great value this summer and just a million things to do. It seems there is something on almost every weekend to anchor animation in the village, and some sunshine will definitely help."

Whistler Chamber of Commerce President Fiona Famulak is polling local businesses to find out what their experience has been over the long weekend, and says there's no consensus of how Canada Day and the long weekend impacted businesses.

"Although some retailers are reporting results that are better than those of 2009, others' results are equal to or down compared to last year. Some accommodation providers report that the July 1 to 3 celebrations had no noticeable impact on business volumes. We don't yet have information from food and beverage providers."

 

Canada Day the biggest ever

The Resort Municipality of Whistler is calling the 2010 Canada Day celebrations our biggest ever, with 4,000 people lining the parade route.

As well, thousands enjoyed live entertainment over the weekend, including performances by Spirit of the West, Chilliwack and Delhi 2 Dublin.

The Canada Day festivities came under fire with a price tag of $96,000, although council approved the expense in order to continue to build on the attention that came with the Olympic Games. The parade included local Olympians, and the Olympic rings returned to the village for the celebration.

According to the municipality, the event came in on budget. The biggest expense of $30,000 went towards the stage itself.

The Whistler Museum and Archives hosted 250 visitors on Canada Day, which is at least five times more than a typical day. The Squamish-Lil'wat Cultural Centre also saw a 56 per cent increase in visitor numbers, as well as a 20 per cent increase in gift shop sales. According to spokesperson Gwen Baudisch, the majority of visitors hailed from the Lower Mainland.

- With notes from Stephen Smysnuik