The working committee looking into the possibility of holding the 2023 Canada Winter Games in Yellowknife has identified a shortfall of hotel rooms necessary to house the visitors during peak aurora viewing season. This new hotel being constructed on Highway 4 next to the Explorer Hotel will add 150 rooms to the city's 550-room capacity once it is complete but the working committee has figured the city needs 850 rooms to accommodate the expected influx of spectators. - Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo |
No vacancy for Canada Games
'Shortfall in hotel rooms not a deal-breaker,' says mayor
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Friday, October 30, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Mayor Mark Heyck says that although working committees looking into the possibility of hosting the 2023 Canada Winter Games have identified a shortage of hotel rooms, new hotel rooms will be added before the Games begin and home-billeting can be used to make up the difference.
"(The shortfall) is something that has to be considered," said Heyck. "But to me it's not a deal-breaker."
He said by scheduling the event during the spring break, residents planning to be out of town on vacation would have the option to rent out their homes to winter games tourists.
"People who are not volunteering for the Games go on vacation somewhere and their homes are vacant, they can make those available if they want," said Heyck.
At the working committee's meeting on Sept. 10, the risk assessment task group brought up the matter of hotel vacancy, pointing out the town needs 850 rooms to accommodate "tourists, media, officials, etc."
Currently, according to the risk assessors, around 550 rooms exist in the city. Another hotel is under construction and should add another 150 rooms.
However, Jenni Bruce, treasurer and past president of the Yellowknife Hotel Association, said even if city hotels are able to make up the shortfall, they'll be completely booked for aurora season between February and March. She said the working committee is considering Yellowknife's hotel room inventory as if they'll all be empty during the busiest month of their year.
"We're booked," she said. "The hotels run in the high 80 to 90 per cent occupancy during that month."
She said aurora tour operators are concerned they'll have to limit the number of visitors they welcome in 2023.
Joey Cruz, the hotel association's president and general manager of the Days Inn, participated in the working committee. He said holding the event at the end of February and the beginning of March would be a tight squeeze for hoteliers.
"The rooms are going to be tight come 2023, unless other alternatives are made, like a host-program, that other host cities have done," he said.
Cruz said he thinks the city can still pull off the Games, but they'll have to get creative in terms of housing the visitors. He said the city has hosted the Arctic Winter Games in the past and managed housing shortages by letting people sleep on gymnasium floors in the schools.
"What are the alternatives?" asked Cruz. "Open the schools."
Heyck said all of the committee reports are complete and are being compiled into one document, which might be presented at a public meeting closer to the end of November before it's presented to council.
He said he hopes councillors who won the election on platforms that included saying "no" to the Games bid will view the report with an open mind.
"I think it's important for new and returning councillors to understand that their job as a councillor involves a considerable amount of research that's available to them," said Heyck. "I would hope while we say things and make commitments in an election campaign that we approach our job with an open mind and that includes whether or not to host the Canada Winter Games."
