2010 a good year for powder hounds bunking down in Rossland
By Andrew Bennett
Accommodation revenue in Rossland was way up in 2010 to more than $2.6 million, some 18 per cent over 2009 and 9.5 per cent higher than the five year average according to the recently released annual report by Tourism Rossland executive director Deanne Steven.
It's been "a strong year for accommodation revenue," Steven writes, "our second best yet since we began tracking in 2006."
The worst year for accommodators was 2006 (some $1.9 million), while both 2007 and 2008 were comparable to 2010.
Steven attributes the success to "great snow and the shut down at Teck," in addition to several large downhill ski races, the Haywood NorAm cross country ski races, the Olympic torch relay, and Winter Carnival.
The statistics show a clear spike in revenue from December to March when revenues are typically two to four times higher than in the other eight months of the year. Figures are only tallied for major accommodators in town who pay the Additional Hotel Room Tax (AHRT) as part of Rossland's participation in the Resort Municipality Initiative. The AHRT largely covers the expenses of Tourism Rossland.
Across BC, revenues increased by 12.2 per cent from 2009 to 2010, much less than the 18 per cent increase in Rossland.
Resort towns like Revelstoke, Golden, and Kimberley all saw a decline in revenues from 2008 to 2010. Fernie saw a five per cent rebound in 2010 relative to 2009, but they did not get close to their 2008 figure as Rossland did. No comparison was available for Nelson and Kootenay Lake, which are also part of the Kootenay-Rockies region analysed in Steven's report.
In absolute terms Rossland is definitely small. Revelstoke, for example, earns more than $16 million in accommodation revenue each year, and Kimberley earns double Rossland's revenues. In fact, Rossland makes up only four per cent of the total accommodation revenue of the Kootenay-Rockies region.
Another striking fact in the report is the 37 per cent decrease in traffic at the visitor's centre located at the museum. Steven attributes the decrease to the ongoing closure of the mine tour.
Nevertheless, Red Mountain did very well, with nearly seven per cent more visits in 2010/2011 than in the previous season. The last time Red saw an increase in total visits was 2007/2008.
Black Jack ski club also did well, with a 13 per cent increase in memberships over 2009/2010, and a 43 per cent increase in the last three years. The cross country club is quite a draw to town, with only 17 per cent of day pass visitors hailing from Rossland. Americans made up some 26 per cent of the day pass visitors, Canadians from outside BC accounted for another 11 per cent, and international skiers made up about 2 per cent.
Coun. Jill Spean was pleased that "Rossland is holding it's own," and was particularly happy with Steven's "phenomenal" work at Tourism Rossland.
"Tourism Rossland and other organizations really stand us in good stead bringing people to our town, a lot better than other places in BC," Spearn said.
That really shows in Steven's "Social Media Report" where it seems that Tourism Rossland has more "Facebook Likes" (2271, at the time of the report) than Tourism Golden, Tourism Kimberely, Tourism Revelstoke, and Tourism Fernie combined.
It's been "a strong year for accommodation revenue," Steven writes, "our second best yet since we began tracking in 2006."
The worst year for accommodators was 2006 (some $1.9 million), while both 2007 and 2008 were comparable to 2010.
Steven attributes the success to "great snow and the shut down at Teck," in addition to several large downhill ski races, the Haywood NorAm cross country ski races, the Olympic torch relay, and Winter Carnival.
The statistics show a clear spike in revenue from December to March when revenues are typically two to four times higher than in the other eight months of the year. Figures are only tallied for major accommodators in town who pay the Additional Hotel Room Tax (AHRT) as part of Rossland's participation in the Resort Municipality Initiative. The AHRT largely covers the expenses of Tourism Rossland.
Across BC, revenues increased by 12.2 per cent from 2009 to 2010, much less than the 18 per cent increase in Rossland.
Resort towns like Revelstoke, Golden, and Kimberley all saw a decline in revenues from 2008 to 2010. Fernie saw a five per cent rebound in 2010 relative to 2009, but they did not get close to their 2008 figure as Rossland did. No comparison was available for Nelson and Kootenay Lake, which are also part of the Kootenay-Rockies region analysed in Steven's report.
In absolute terms Rossland is definitely small. Revelstoke, for example, earns more than $16 million in accommodation revenue each year, and Kimberley earns double Rossland's revenues. In fact, Rossland makes up only four per cent of the total accommodation revenue of the Kootenay-Rockies region.
Another striking fact in the report is the 37 per cent decrease in traffic at the visitor's centre located at the museum. Steven attributes the decrease to the ongoing closure of the mine tour.
Nevertheless, Red Mountain did very well, with nearly seven per cent more visits in 2010/2011 than in the previous season. The last time Red saw an increase in total visits was 2007/2008.
Black Jack ski club also did well, with a 13 per cent increase in memberships over 2009/2010, and a 43 per cent increase in the last three years. The cross country club is quite a draw to town, with only 17 per cent of day pass visitors hailing from Rossland. Americans made up some 26 per cent of the day pass visitors, Canadians from outside BC accounted for another 11 per cent, and international skiers made up about 2 per cent.
Coun. Jill Spean was pleased that "Rossland is holding it's own," and was particularly happy with Steven's "phenomenal" work at Tourism Rossland.
"Tourism Rossland and other organizations really stand us in good stead bringing people to our town, a lot better than other places in BC," Spearn said.
That really shows in Steven's "Social Media Report" where it seems that Tourism Rossland has more "Facebook Likes" (2271, at the time of the report) than Tourism Golden, Tourism Kimberely, Tourism Revelstoke, and Tourism Fernie combined.
Looking to the future, Steven thinks the web visits to the Tourism Rossland site are "indicative of the importance of the Kelowna market." About one in three web site hits come from Kelowna, while Calgary and Vancouver together account for more than a quarter of hits.