Straight Issues

Oil prices may create more local tourism

by Matthew Burrows on June 17th, 2009 at 4:01 PM
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      Vancouver tourism by the numbers

      > Number of visitors to Greater Vancouver in 2008: 8.62 million

      > Number of visitors to Greater Vancouver in 2007: 8.91 million

      > Percentage decrease from previous year: 3.2 percent

      > Number of visitors to Greater Vancouver from B.C. in 2008: 2.68 million

      > Number of visitors to Greater Vancouver from B.C. in 2007: 2.74 million

      > Percentage decrease from previous year: 2.3 percent

      > Total visitor spending in Greater Vancouver in 2007: $4.63 billion

      > Total visitor spending in Greater Vancouver in 2006: $4.43 billion

      Source: Tourism Vancouver

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      Matthew Burrows

      @mpbuzz

      Matthew (Paul) Burrows is staff writer with the Georgia Straight, where he’s called Matt. He was born in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, England in 1971. He shares his birthday with Billy Connolly, filmmaker Mark Achbar and the current mayor of Fort St. John.

      Now Matt’s a vegetarian...

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      Comments

      2 Comments

      tahoevalleylines

      Jun 18, 2009 at 11:05am

      After beating my head against the tourism establishment at Lake Tahoe since the 1973 embargo, this is the first intelligent article on Peaking Oil vs. travel habits. My mistake all along was to include railway connection as a high priority , a mistake in a generation without experience or ability to properly research historical rail amenities that developed tourism in North America. From Flagler's Key West Railroad, to Tahoe's line to Tahoe City, no one under 70 really has a clue about railways and tourism. At least in Canada, there are many transportation hotels actually over the tracks, hard to hide the connection!

      Take a look at Christopher C. Swan's "ELECTRIC WATER" (New Society, 2007) for a compendium of renewable and railtech that fits with tourism planning very well.

      Rain

      Jun 20, 2009 at 2:48pm

      Cheaper to fly to Laguna Beach California and stay in a hotel on the beach for a week, or even an all inclusive week in Mexico, then to go camping in a tent in Tofino for a week and cook over a fire.
      Tourism in BC has priced themselves out of a local market as they have structured around US, European and Asian tourists. They complain about how bad business is, yet refuse to lower their absurd prices to accommodate locals.
      This problem has and will be exacerbated by the price gouging due to the Olympics.

      Want to save some serious money on your vacation this year... leave BC. You will find better value almost anywhere else, and have a great adventure in the process.

      BC, the land that locals one day hope they can afford to enjoy again.