Hay River (Sep 27/04) - The tourism sector has little to celebrate after a dud of a summer season in the South Slave.

Depending on who's talking, the decline in the number of tourists was either slight or disastrous.

No one is saying it's a good year, they only vary in reports of how bad it actually was.

Fort Smith outfitter Clayton Burke says his operation was hurt by fewer tourists, largely caused by highway closures due to forest fires in Wood Buffalo National Park.

"It was just devastating," he said, estimating his company lost about 75 per cent of its business.

Burke, who owns Taiga Tours, said about six bus tours from the south avoided the town because of the road closures. The situation was complicated by high gas prices, he added.

A Hay River business owner agreed the number of visitors was way down.

"There was a big decrease for the second year in a row," said Verna Woznica, owner of the Cabin Fever gift shop and a member of the Hay River Tourism Advisory Board.

While she was reluctant to speculate about possible reasons for the decrease, she did say, "This year, I think it's gas prices."

Moderate decrease

Tom Colosimo, RWED's parks manager in the South Slave, estimates there was a moderate decrease in the number of visitors to the South Slave.

"I would say we are definitely down," Colosimo said, estimating the drop at between 10-20 per cent. Final figures are still being prepared.

In an average year, about 11,000 tourists sign in at the 60th Parallel visitor centre at the NWT/Alberta border.

Colosimo says the number of users declined less at the region's territorial parks, which are popular with residents of northern Alberta.

He believes cold weather early in the season, high gas prices and forest fires kept some potential tourists away.

Those that did visit were often worried about forest fires, he noted. "We had a lot of concerned people at the border."

At Wood Buffalo National Park, the numbers were on par with past years, although a gradual annual decrease continued.

From April to Sept. 21, 791 visitors had been recorded at the park. That compares to 877 from April to the end of September last year.

Mike Keizer, communications and visitor services manager with the park, said the overall visitor numbers for 2004 will likely be close to 1,000, compared to 951 in 2003.

Keizer said the number of visitors has been slowly dropping over the last several years. In 2001, there were 1,052 visitors and 1,041 in 2002.

The forest fires and the temporary road closures on Highway 5 had little impact on the number of park visitors, he said.

"The thing is, most of our visitors are long-term planning visitors," he explained, noting some Europeans and Americans plan for years and spend a lot of money on the trip. "As long as they hear the road is open, they'll come."

Keizer says he knows of only one out-of-territory visitor who turned back because of the forest fires. That was a visitor from B.C. who experienced the 2003 fires in that province.

David Grindlay, executive director of NWT Arctic Tourism, says anecdotal information indicates numbers are stagnant or down in many areas of the NWT.

Grindlay believes the decrease in tourism in the South Slave was caused by the forest fires and high gas prices.

RWED review:

A review of tourism programs and services is on the way from NWT Arctic Tourism and the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development (RWED).

NWT Arctic Tourism, a not-for-profit industry group, is responsible for marketing the NWT as a tourism destination.

However, David Grindlay, executive director of NWT Arctic Tourism, notes RWED's parks and tourism section also does some marketing and is responsible for research, product development, licensing and parks.

"In order to more clearly define what our role is, vis-a-vis the parks and tourism section of RWED, we have agreed to participate in a review of these roles and responsibilities," Grindlay said.

He couldn't say if the current arrangement is negatively affecting the number of visitors to the NWT.

"I think it's working reasonably well but I think it could work better," he said.

The call for proposals closes Sept. 30 and Grindlay hopes the review will be completed before Christmas so any recommended changes can be made in time for the next tourist season.

-- Paul Bickford