U.S. visitation to Thunder Bay in January 2011 posted a slight decrease over 2010 but the positive story is that more visitors stayed longer.
While the continued decrease overall is cause for concern, with 1408 U.S. residents crossing into Ontario versus 1476 the previous December, a closer look at the numbers reveals something interesting and somewhat encouraging with respect to increased visitor retention. Obviously, the longer a visitor stays in the city or region, the greater their economic impact so keeping the visitors we have staying and exploring longer, the more that tourism partners benefit.
While the January numbers overall were down, single and 2+ nights saw significant growth. Single night traffic rose from 82 to 130 visitors in 2011 over 2010 while 2+ nights increased from 624 to 720 over 2010. Same day traffic took the the full force of the decline, plummeting
to 558 from 770.
Using Ministry of Tourism regional tourism profile data for the City of Thunder Bay, the average U.S. resident spends an average $238 per visit on overnight trips and only $160 for day trips. Therefore the total economic impact for January 2011 is $291 580 versus $291 228, an ever so slight increase over the previous year. It drives home the point that while the number of visitors is one important measurement, total impact is equally if not more important. Looking beyond the surface, analysing shifting visitation trends and understanding the economic impacts of those shifts is critical to looking at the bigger picture with greater accuracy. Of course we still want to see increased visitation AND spending but its important during these challenging economic times for the overall industry, to celebrate every victory.
Showing posts with label border. Show all posts
Showing posts with label border. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 1, 2010
Will U.S. Passport Price Increases Affect Us?
Recent news that the Unites States is increasing passport fees by as much as 35% is creating a topic for discussion around the impact this will have on travel to Canada.
My take on it? Yes and No. Given the unprecedented challenges facing the tourism industry in North America over the past 18 months, from poor weather, at par dollar, slow economy and so forth, this is just another little speed bump we have to address.
For border communities that rely on U.S. day trippers, lower income and middle income families, the answer is Yes. It will affect their visitation. For Thunder Bay, only 19% of our 94 000 U.S. visitors to the city were day trippers. Because the nearest U.S. community is 90 minutes away, we don't anticipate this will have a large impact.
However, we're in the business of finding solutions, not bemoaning challenges. If all we do is complain, we'll fail.
The reality is that over 1.3 million new passports were issued in our four key U.S. Midwest markets of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois in 2009. Over 7 million passports have been issued in those four states in the past 5 years and over 11 million currently have passports in those states. Remember that U.S. passports are good for 10 years so, for the 7 million who got passports in the past 5 years in those key states, there should be no immediate concerns related simply to passports.
Remember, in 2009, when U.S. travel to Canada was down 9.2%, we were only down 1.6%. We were, in fact, up 1% in June and July (the first two months of the new passport requirements at land crossings) and 12.5% up in September. Much of this performance can be attributed to a shift in marketing into the U.S. markets that was much more targeted to specific adventure groups, groups that research indicated would still travel during tough economic times. This wasn't just limited to our efforts but many of our partners, the Province and regional travel associations as well.
People who get passports are generally business or avid adventure travellers or both. Educated and avid travelers are our target markets. People who travel possess a passion to explore, to learn new things, meet new people and place a high value on the experience. They continue to exist and our task remains to make sure we maintain or develop the experiences they seek, deliver value and quality and to market this effectively to them.
The guy or gal who never leaves his or her house and complains about having to drive across town (among other things) doesn't likely travel and will likely never need nor want a passport. He or she are not the market we work to attract.
Our efforts over the past two years have focused more on avid enthusiasts looking for a trophy experience. It's important that we all realize that there are a number of these trophy experiences that we own in this region- Outdoors such as angling, hunting and sustainable silent wilderness experiences, the Lake Superior Circle tour and iconic sport tourism events. For people passionate about their pursuits, the additional $35 every 10 years on a passport is not a deterrence. If your driver's licence went up the equivalent of $3.50 every year, would you stop driving? Probably not.
The other element in all of this is the pursuit of new markets. With the prevalence of the Internet, its never been so easy to reach out to avid travel markets globally. While we can continue to invest in growing existing best bet close haul markets, we must also allocate our resources further afield to reach the avid that does not mind driving a little further or even flying to find their experience. We've seen growth in European markets locally as well as spikes from non traditional U.S. markets such as Texas, Florida and California.
We have some of the most spectacular natural environment in North America and some of the best coastal driving, angling and wilderness paddling at our doorstep and we should never lose our confidence in it. Maintaining that confidence, knowing our consumers needs and delivering on value, will be our key to attracting new markets and overcoming challenges to the industry environment.
My take on it? Yes and No. Given the unprecedented challenges facing the tourism industry in North America over the past 18 months, from poor weather, at par dollar, slow economy and so forth, this is just another little speed bump we have to address.
For border communities that rely on U.S. day trippers, lower income and middle income families, the answer is Yes. It will affect their visitation. For Thunder Bay, only 19% of our 94 000 U.S. visitors to the city were day trippers. Because the nearest U.S. community is 90 minutes away, we don't anticipate this will have a large impact.
However, we're in the business of finding solutions, not bemoaning challenges. If all we do is complain, we'll fail.
The reality is that over 1.3 million new passports were issued in our four key U.S. Midwest markets of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois in 2009. Over 7 million passports have been issued in those four states in the past 5 years and over 11 million currently have passports in those states. Remember that U.S. passports are good for 10 years so, for the 7 million who got passports in the past 5 years in those key states, there should be no immediate concerns related simply to passports.
Remember, in 2009, when U.S. travel to Canada was down 9.2%, we were only down 1.6%. We were, in fact, up 1% in June and July (the first two months of the new passport requirements at land crossings) and 12.5% up in September. Much of this performance can be attributed to a shift in marketing into the U.S. markets that was much more targeted to specific adventure groups, groups that research indicated would still travel during tough economic times. This wasn't just limited to our efforts but many of our partners, the Province and regional travel associations as well.
People who get passports are generally business or avid adventure travellers or both. Educated and avid travelers are our target markets. People who travel possess a passion to explore, to learn new things, meet new people and place a high value on the experience. They continue to exist and our task remains to make sure we maintain or develop the experiences they seek, deliver value and quality and to market this effectively to them.
The guy or gal who never leaves his or her house and complains about having to drive across town (among other things) doesn't likely travel and will likely never need nor want a passport. He or she are not the market we work to attract.
Our efforts over the past two years have focused more on avid enthusiasts looking for a trophy experience. It's important that we all realize that there are a number of these trophy experiences that we own in this region- Outdoors such as angling, hunting and sustainable silent wilderness experiences, the Lake Superior Circle tour and iconic sport tourism events. For people passionate about their pursuits, the additional $35 every 10 years on a passport is not a deterrence. If your driver's licence went up the equivalent of $3.50 every year, would you stop driving? Probably not.
The other element in all of this is the pursuit of new markets. With the prevalence of the Internet, its never been so easy to reach out to avid travel markets globally. While we can continue to invest in growing existing best bet close haul markets, we must also allocate our resources further afield to reach the avid that does not mind driving a little further or even flying to find their experience. We've seen growth in European markets locally as well as spikes from non traditional U.S. markets such as Texas, Florida and California.
We have some of the most spectacular natural environment in North America and some of the best coastal driving, angling and wilderness paddling at our doorstep and we should never lose our confidence in it. Maintaining that confidence, knowing our consumers needs and delivering on value, will be our key to attracting new markets and overcoming challenges to the industry environment.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
October Border Crossing Results Released
Canada Border Services Agency and Statistics Canada have completed their analysis of the October 2009 crossing data at the Pigeon River Border Crossing and the results show a downward trend for the month but some optimism for the year overall.
After a very strong September, Only 3997 U.S. residents crossed into the Thunder Bay district, versus 4898 the previous October, a drop of approximately 18%. The drop was identified across all travel categories, with 1363 day trippers (down 12%), 338 single overnight (down 20%) and 2296 2 plus night stays (down 16%). While disappointing, these numbers reflect the general trends across Canada. Possible contributors to this trend are the high Canadian dollar during October, continued uncertainty around the U.S. economy, and a likely trend that, given the cold summer and fall, travel patterns may have shifted towards warmer locales earlier than normal.
However, year to date traffic to the end of October, at 88 677 U.S residents, is only down 0.9% for the year over 2008. the summer's performance can be attributed to a strong circle touring season with increases in key experience demographics such as motorcycle touring. For 2010, Tourism Thunder Bay is expanding its presence in the U.S. AAA web and print media to keep building on this success.
After a very strong September, Only 3997 U.S. residents crossed into the Thunder Bay district, versus 4898 the previous October, a drop of approximately 18%. The drop was identified across all travel categories, with 1363 day trippers (down 12%), 338 single overnight (down 20%) and 2296 2 plus night stays (down 16%). While disappointing, these numbers reflect the general trends across Canada. Possible contributors to this trend are the high Canadian dollar during October, continued uncertainty around the U.S. economy, and a likely trend that, given the cold summer and fall, travel patterns may have shifted towards warmer locales earlier than normal.
However, year to date traffic to the end of October, at 88 677 U.S residents, is only down 0.9% for the year over 2008. the summer's performance can be attributed to a strong circle touring season with increases in key experience demographics such as motorcycle touring. For 2010, Tourism Thunder Bay is expanding its presence in the U.S. AAA web and print media to keep building on this success.
Friday, November 20, 2009
September Border Crossing Show Continual Improvements
After a softer August, September's Pigeon River border crossings jumped substantially this year, bringing optimism for a return to traditional US travel market levels. At a time when many destination marketing organizations in Canada have written off US markets or continued with shotgun campaigns, our approach to targeting the travel motivations of the 7.1 million passport holders in the US midwest appears to have been paying off.
September 2009 saw 10, 332 U.S. residents cross into the Thunder Bay District from Pigeon River, up 12% from 9,124 the previous September.
Same day and 2 plus night overnight visits increased by 5% and 17% respectively while single night overnight trips dropped 15%. Same day travel was responsible for 19% of traffic (1,944), single overnight stays at 5% (417) and 2 plus night travel made up 77% (7,971) of U.S. travel to the district. A larger percentage of U.S.visitors are staying longer in the district, increasing economic impacts.
Shifts in our U.S. based marketing programs towards avid touring and outdoor experience seekers, innovative partnerships with OTMPC into the Madison and St Paul markets and direct initiatives by other tourism partners in the city and area such as the Fort William Historical Park Canada Gateway Center are likely the main reasons behind this positive trend and demonstrate the importance of using consumer travel motivator data as the basis for tourism marketing strategies.
September 2009 saw 10, 332 U.S. residents cross into the Thunder Bay District from Pigeon River, up 12% from 9,124 the previous September.
Same day and 2 plus night overnight visits increased by 5% and 17% respectively while single night overnight trips dropped 15%. Same day travel was responsible for 19% of traffic (1,944), single overnight stays at 5% (417) and 2 plus night travel made up 77% (7,971) of U.S. travel to the district. A larger percentage of U.S.visitors are staying longer in the district, increasing economic impacts.
Shifts in our U.S. based marketing programs towards avid touring and outdoor experience seekers, innovative partnerships with OTMPC into the Madison and St Paul markets and direct initiatives by other tourism partners in the city and area such as the Fort William Historical Park Canada Gateway Center are likely the main reasons behind this positive trend and demonstrate the importance of using consumer travel motivator data as the basis for tourism marketing strategies.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
August 2009 U.S. Border Crossing Numbers Released
Canada Border Services Agency has released its August 2009 travel statistics for the Pigeon River Border Crossing
August 2009 saw an 8.3% decline in U.S. travellers over 2008, with 18, 043 US residents travelling into Canada at that point versus 19,672 the previous year.
All segments were affected with the following results
Same Day 2,987 (2009) - 5% from
1 Night 626 (2009) -15%
2 + Night 14,430 (2009) -9%
Our year to date U.S. traffic is 74,348 residents versus 75,434 in 2008, resulting in a very modest overall year to date decline of 1.5%, not bad considering the economic environment we are all working within.
While the August figures are disappointing, we have to look at these numbers within the context of the U.S. economy, passport regulations, cooler weather and a upward creep of the Canadian dollar around this time.
August 2009 saw an 8.3% decline in U.S. travellers over 2008, with 18, 043 US residents travelling into Canada at that point versus 19,672 the previous year.
All segments were affected with the following results
Same Day 2,987 (2009) - 5% from
1 Night 626 (2009) -15%
2 + Night 14,430 (2009) -9%
Our year to date U.S. traffic is 74,348 residents versus 75,434 in 2008, resulting in a very modest overall year to date decline of 1.5%, not bad considering the economic environment we are all working within.
While the August figures are disappointing, we have to look at these numbers within the context of the U.S. economy, passport regulations, cooler weather and a upward creep of the Canadian dollar around this time.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
New Passport Requirements Take Effect June 1
Its probably not news to anyone intimately involved in the regional tourism industry but it worth reminding everyone that the latest incarnation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative takes effect June 1, 2009.What does that mean? Passports. Canadian residents travelling into the United States by road crossing will now be required to have a valid passport or accepted registered secure smart driver's licence to enter the United States. U.S. residents will require the same to re-enter the United States.
The date has been pushed back a couple of times and there had been hope that the new Democratic government would scrap the initiative altogether. The new regulation will undoubtedly have a short and medium term effect on border communities the most where casual day traffic will decline in both directions. However, in communities where residents depend on goods, services and employment across the border, they are more likely to get their documents.
We are entering a new era and the passport requirement will soon reach a point of equilibrium. I liken them to a flu shot in that it is a little inconvenient to go and get the application, a pic taken and a witness's signature. However, once you get one, they're one of the best documents to have. Recent increases in the numbers of both Canadian and U.S. residents applying for passports is an encouraging sign that people are getting them.
And who is getting them? People who travel is the obvious answer but more specifically, educated and avid experience seekers and these are the clients we want to market to anyway. The person who never leaves their sofa to get a passport is also the person no amount of marketing is going to likely encourage travel.
So what can you do to ensure your U.S. clients are getting their passport?
- Send them the information on the Canadian AND U.S. requirements when they inquire or book their vacations. The Canadian Border Services Agency is always more than pleased to supply tourism partners with the forms they need.
- Send clients the link to the U.S. and Canadian Border agency websites or better yet, put the links on your websites. They are listed here.
Canadian - http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/whti-ivho/menu-eng.html
- Read up on the regulations so you can at least answer basic questions your clients may have.
- Offer a travel discount up to the equivalent value of their passport fee.
- Grand Portage Lodge and Casino has taken things one step further. They have been hosting a number of sessions and taking Canadian resident's passport photos for them. Imagine booths at U.S. sports shows with passport information and photographer on the ready to make people's processes a little easier. I am not sure what the legality is of doing this in the U.S. but its worth getting the information on and reporting back on it here.
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