THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 13, 1995 TAG: 9502130205
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Ted Evanoff
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Ice rimed the St. Lawrence River. Thermometers in Montreal read 16 below.
Ordinarily, great cold would be great news for Hampton Roads. Arctic chill makes folks in Trois Rivieres and Sault St. Marie relish Tidewater, especially the oceanfront.
Tourists from Quebec and Ontario spend as much as $80 million each summer in Virginia Beach.
Unfortunately, the temperature and Canada's dollar have plunged. A Canadian family that saves $1,000 for a summer spree will find it worth about $600 in the United States at current conversion rates.
If the dismal spread continues into summer, it'll cut Canadian buying power in Tidewater, where 21,000 people toil in the hospitality industry. Understandably, the Oceanfront's tourism industry has taken note.
``Always when you have this large a gap in the conversion rate,there is a concern,'' said Hester Waterfield, Virginia Beach tourism and marketing director.
She'll be on a USAir flight soon. Virginia Beach isn't leaving its tourist economy to chance.
Neither is Virginia. Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City and Toronto are on the two-week itinerary for Hampton Roads and Virginia officials leaving Saturday.
Waterfield will visit Canadian Automobile Association officials, attend two consumer trade shows and represent Tidewater at a Toronto golf show.
``We're extending a little bit more, doing a little more press,'' Waterfield said. ``We're trying to be more visible.''
While Canadians are willing to spend their money on vacation, the question is whether they'll vacation in Virginia Beach.
Canadians, especially French Canadians, have comprised as much as 10 percent of the oceanfront's tourist trade. Virginia Beach even mounts Bienvenue a greetings on street posts.
Chances are, many of those visitors might prefer home this summer. Canada has launched a $50 million campaign suggesting they do so. That would help keep cash in Canada. And that's no small thing.
Canada's recession soldiers on. The jobless rate remains at 9.6 percent. And there's talk of big Canadian tax increases.
Canada and its provinces are $700 billion in debt, which exceeds even America's federal debt on a per capita basis. Interest payments claim almost $1 of every $3 in revenue collected by the Canadian federal government.
Investors who are owed the money worry Canada can't repay it all. Their jitters have contributed to the decline of Canada's dollar.
Taking note, the U.S. Travel and Tourism Agency forecasts the number of visits to the United States by Canadians will fall 6.5 percent this year to 14.5 million arrivals.
What this means for the waterfront tourism industry is troubling - '95 may not surpass '94, when the average length of stay by Canadian visitors dropped to 4.5 days.
``It all depends on the Canadian economy,'' said economist Vinod Agarwal of Old Dominion University. ``I believe people can get used to the fact that the Canadian dollar is lower priced. If the Canadian dollar continues to fall, we'll have a serious problem.''
Other cities have already responded. The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau has switched gears and allocated its entire marketing reserve, $450,000, to TV ads in one city: New York.
Of course, South Florida's visitors tend to arrive in the winter, and Hampton Roads' arrive in the summer, but both underscore the same trend: Canadian tourism has been diminished.
``A lot of states have seen what's been happening in Canada and while they're not neglecting Canada, they've been allocating resources to other places,'' said Vicki Johnson of the U.S. Commerce Department.
Economies in Asia and South America are booming. The number of Japanese tourists in the United States is expected to double to 7 million by 2000. Germany's mark is strong.
Hampton Roads has been mindful of this. Tidewater, along with Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, began heavier advertising as a coalition in Germany.
That makes sense. Tourism has become increasingly international. The World Tourism Organization in Madrid figures world travel will almost double by 2010 to 937 million travelers.
Already in the United States, 41 percent of foreign visitors come from overseas.
Virginia Beach no doubt should leave up its Bienvenue a signs, but also leave room on the posts for greetings in other languages.
KEYWORDS: TOURISM by CNB