For some it was a bounce-back year, for others it was a struggle, still others said it was the best year yet.
For Victoria’s tourism industry, hit hard by the pandemic, 2022 had a bit of everything but the one thread that runs through it all is that the last 12 months have set the table for a strong 2023.
“It was better than expected,” said Paul Nursey, chief executive of Destination Greater Victoria.
For the understated Nursey, that’s high praise. It may be warranted, given the start of 2022 was far from promising.
The year began with COVID’s Omicron variant running rampant and politicians making noise about extended border closures and telling the industry it was likely going to have to rely on the domestic market to pay the bills indefinitely.
“There was a lot of uncertainty at the time,” said Nursey, noting it left the industry scrambling to rebook trips, conferences and events.
Then came the spring and some hope. Pandemic health restrictions, such as testing to cross international borders, started to relax and things started to happen. It would take longer to axe the rules about proof of vaccination and the mandatory filling out of the federal government’s ArriveCAN app.
Nursey said his destination marketing organization then took a “big swing” with its largest ever marketing campaign in May, which appears to have paid off.
“Revenue has been flowing back into our operators and our members this year, but I think what we’d prefer is more normal and predictable patterns that you can actually business plan around,” he said.
Nursey said given the amount of uncertainty the industry was facing through the first few months of the year, it should be proud of how it roared back.
“It was probably better than anticipated,” he said. “Though there are still headwinds and there are still challenges.”
The hotel numbers show revenue at near 2019 levels, while many tourism operators reported solid summer numbers and big returns in the fall.
Chemistry Consulting’s most up-to-date statistics show hotels with a 71 per cent occupancy rate through the first 10 months of this year, down from the 76 per cent through the same period in 2019. But at the same time revenue per available room year-to-date jumped this year to $173.15 versus $149.27 in 2019.
Reid James, general manager of the Hotel Grand Pacific, said demand was very good in 2022 and the season would have been even better for hotels if they weren’t all short of housekeeping staff.
The labour shortage forced some hotels to shut off sections of rooms and reduce some services.
James said things really started to pick up when vaccine restrictions were lifted and there was less friction at international borders.
Dave Cowen, chief executive of Butchart Gardens, said 2022 attendance was a pleasant surprise given the late start to the year. He said the Island’s top tourist attraction was down just 30 per cent compared with pre-pandemic attendance.
“Like most organizations, we are scaling operations to keep things manageable for staff, so this year we were not able to operate all of our facilities, services and entertainment at 2019 levels,” he said.
For Butchart, the Canadian market was very strong, but international numbers have been slow to recover.
“However, with the easing of Canada’s COVID restrictions and changes to ArriveCAN, we expect to see more international visitors next year,” he said. “This improvement will also be driven as restrictions ease in Asian markets and as airlines and other transportation providers rebuild their service levels.”
Spokesman Scott Meis said 2022 was FRS Clipper’s most difficult year, and the passenger ferry had a tough re-entry.
Clipper tried to relaunch its service between Victoria and Seattle in the fall of 2021, but low ridership forced them to suspend service after less than a month.
It launched again in the spring when border restrictions loosened.
Meis said the persistence of COVID variants into summer deterred the older demographic as well as families from travelling to the extent they did in 2019. When all border entry restrictions were dropped in the fall, they were able to breathe, though it was too late to make up for lost time and revenue, he said.
“Heading into 2023, we’ve established a schedule that enables us to continue on our recovery path. We are bringing back double rotation days on key summer weekend dates with the ability to add sailings if demand surges,” he said.
“Furthermore, we are introducing a new schedule this year featuring a 1:30 p.m. Thursday departure from Victoria to provide a better option for our Canadian guests to enjoy an extended weekend in Seattle.”
He said they will start the year in better shape with a good number of veteran staff and new staff brought on in the last year.
“Overall, we remain optimistic that 2023 will be the year for older demographics and families to feel safe travelling once again and finally have their own shot at a year of revenge travel,” Meis said.
Brett Soberg, owner of Eagle Wing Whale and Wildlife Tours, said his optimism is high after coming off the best year ever.
“It was definitely more than just a bounce-back year,” he said, adding the credit is in part due to Destination Greater Victoria. “That has a lot to do with Victoria positioning itself quite nicely by aggressively marketing the destination. We were also viewed as a safe destination, so we were pleasantly surprised by the amount of support that we received from the Canadian market especially, which literally has kept us alive for three seasons.”
Nursey said through it all the region has also held onto its strong brand, and noted Greater Victoria, the Island and local hotels like the Fairmont Empress and Oak Bay Beach Hotel have all recently been recognized by travel magazines as top international destinations.
The tourism association has also worked hard to build back the conference business, which played a big role in extending the industry beyond the summer season. That business had been decimated by the pandemic, but in 2022 it started coming back and year-to-date the Victoria Conference Centre had booked about 78,000 delegate days. Through the first 10 months of 2019 it had booked just over 108,000.
“I can’t tell you how much work we put into trying to save that segment over the last couple of years, so to have that foundation back is very positive,” said Nursey.
Coupled with improved international travel numbers, Nursey said they are on solid footing heading into 2023, even with the spectre of a recession on the horizon.
“We’re heading into an economic softening, but if we can lean into the United States market, which we will be doing, and high-yield Europe and have a good strong conference and sports year, we can actually probably outperform other economic segments,” he said. “I think we’ll be solid next year. You can never tell until the last minute, but we have a strong portfolio of meetings on the books and we are seeing strong pace for high-yielding international visitors.”
James said there is optimism that tourist visits will continue to rebound next year. “We have learned how to stay healthier through masking, staying home when sick and encouraging vaccinations,” he said. “Also, we are more nimble and prepared if such an event were to happen again.”
Cowen said Butchart expects to operate more like it did in 2019 with a full slate of entertainment and fireworks.
“We are starting to see some strong interest in a few of our key international markets, but full recovery will take several years,” he said.
“Impressively, the tourism industry has demonstrated resilience and adapted to the serious challenges brought by COVID and staffing shortages.”
Soberg said they are gearing up for expansion. “We’re actually launching a new vessel to expand our market share,” he said, noting it seems people always have the money for bucket list items like whale watching.
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]
