Room nights to rise 3 per cent: TW

Arlene Schieven, Tourism Whistler VP of marketing, says that after a solid summer season, TW is forecasting a 3 per cent rise in hotel room nights in the resort for the winter of 2009-‘10.

Tourism Whistler (TW) is forecasting an increase in overnight stays of almost three per cent for the upcoming winter — an increase largely driven by Olympic visitation in February.

If the resort achieves 90 per cent occupancy during the 2010 Olympics and more than 60 per cent occupancy on the days surrounding the Games, February will see an increase in business of 21 per cent over last year, , TW’s VP of marketing, told a group at TW’s all member meeting Monday (Sept. 14).

At this point, single-digit declines are predicted for November, December and January, while the Paralympics could contribute to an increase in March, she said. The forecast for the season overall is to be 2.9 per cent busier than winter 2008-’09.

Meanwhile, TW’s summer 2009 results to date show continuation in the trend of last-minute bookings and walk-in traffic to local hotels. People are also staying closer to home, with continued declines in U.S. visitors and increases in visitors from around B.C. These trends are not unique to Whistler, Schieven said.

“Overall we’ve been doing fairly well this summer,” she said. “We had a phenomenal month this past August.”

For the first time ever, August was a busier month than January or March in Whistler. There was a 23 per cent increase in business last month, Schieven said.

With September and October still to come in what TW considers Whistler’s summer season, the forecast for the total season is for three per cent more hotel stays than summer 2008. While June and July were up slightly, September and October are expected to see declines.

Some of the increase in the number of hotel stays has come as a result of decreased rates — another trend that is taking place at many destinations, Schieven said. There has been a drop of 17 per cent in average daily hotel rates for the summer season to date, she said.

For the first half of 2009, Whistler saw a 27-per-cent decline in hotel room rates compared to the same period in 2008 — the largest decline in the country, according to the first-ever Canadian Hotels Price Index, released on Tuesday (Sept. 15).

Group tours and conference business are both down for Whistler, with a “huge” amount of attrition and cancellation so far in 2009, said Karen Goodwin, TW’s director of sales. New bookings at the Whistler Conference Centre are down 25 per cent, though hotels that host meetings are actually seeing an increase in business, she said. Overall, 2009 is expected to see an eight per cent decline in group business.

With tour operators unable to book trips for people in February because of the Olympics, it’s difficult to predict what will happen during the winter season and beyond, Goodwin said. However, the TW team is working to develop some theme months to help attract more value. January is being billed “Australia Month,” while March is “Family Month,” she said.

TW’s marketing strategies for winter 2009-’10 are focusing on the regional market for pre- and post-Games periods, while a separate campaign will target Games-time visitors to encourage them to return.

Meanwhile, TW’s communications team is working to leverage Games-time media exposure, said Communications Director Casey Vanden Heuvel. Millennium Place will be used as a media support facility for both non-accredited and accredited media, with services such as press conference space, working areas, and arranging for outdoor broadcast locations and “beauty cams” to provide rights-free broadcast footage, he said.

Before the all-members meeting, TW officials invited tourism expert Anna Pollock to give a presentation about the future of tourism in Whistler. An award-winning consultant, strategist, futurist and change agent with 30 years’ experience, Pollock said Whistler and other destinations must go through a transformation to be prosperous and stable in the long term.

Pollock said the Western world in general is in transition out of the economic model that’s based on always having more, and she encouraged Whistler in its efforts to promote sustainability. Whistler will get more street credibility doing things like starting the Whistler Centre for Sustainability than producing sexy marketing videos, she said.

Pollock also stressed the importance of giving people a remarkable experience when they come to Whistler. With social media increasing consumers’ scope of influence, it’s the consumers who are now marketers and consumer reviews that are the new advertising, she said.

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