Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Jan 17/00) - If all goes according to construction plans, Iqaluit's hotel market will have grown substantially by the summer.

The 50-room addition to the Frobisher Inn is expected to be completed March 3. Some rooms will have kitchenettes while a few will feature fireplaces and jet tubs, said Frobisher office manager Lydia Booth.

Urbco Inc. anticipates completion of its 40-room executive suite in May.

And with last year's reopening of the Mariner Lodge, owned by Pangnirtung-based Auyuittuq Developments Inc., the number of hotel rooms available in Iqaluit will be 268 this summer, compared to 153 rooms a year earlier. That's a 75 per cent jump.

But is there enough room for the Eastern Arctic's biggest conference?

Colleen Dupuis, who co-ordinates the Iqaluit Trade Show for the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce, is expecting as many as 350 people to be in Iqaluit for the event during the week of March 6.

It will be a tight squeeze.

Assuming the Frobisher -- owned by Nunastar Properties -- addition is finished, 228 rooms at community hotels will be available during the conference. The Frobisher will top the list with 100 rooms while the Discovery Lodge has 53 rooms and the Navigator has 33 rooms. Rounding out lodgings is the Mariner with room for 25 and the Co-op's Toonoonik Hotel with 17.

"We're working on securing back-up facilities, just in case," Dupuis said.

"We have not had anyone say that they can't find room. My guess is, some time in February, that will happen."

This year, the number of people attending the trade show is estimated to increase as much as 35 per cent over last year because there will be two venues, which means more booth space.

Arctic College and the Coast Guard base are options if people are unable to get accommodations, Dupuis said.

As of last week, Dupuis said space for only a few booths were still available.

Andy Morrison, chief executive officer with Arctic Co-operatives Ltd., said the co-op is "exploring" the option of expanding its Toonoonik Hotel. "With all the work taking place, it has meant higher occupancies across the board," he said.

The co-op has built new hotels in Hall Beach and Resolute Bay and expanded its hotel in Arviat recently, and will soon start work on a new hotel in Fort McPherson, Morrison adds.

Kenn Harper, vice- president of Auyuittuq Developments, said the Mariner, which is located behind the Discovery, has been upgraded.

John Jacobsen, president of the Discovery Lodge, which is part of the Tower Group of Companies, said the hotel can handle an expansion but there are no plans to add on at this time.

Jacobsen said it's obvious there has been an increase in activity in Iqaluit, but it remains to be seen if the activity is enough to warrant more big increases in hotel room numbers.

Asked if the expansion at the Frobisher might translate into that property taking more market share, leading to lower rates, Jacobsen said such a development is possible.

"If room rates go down (though) you don't want to increase debt load by expanding."

And according to Tony Pollard, president of the Hotel Association of Canada, exactly how many rooms Iqaluit needs is not known because no formula exists. Each place is different, he added.

"If a city is a major tourist destination, typically there are more (hotel rooms) than if people are going for business," he said.

"In any business, you don't build for the peaks or the valleys, it's somewhere in between."

Canada's hotel business is worth about $10 billion annually. Average occupancy rates at Canada's 7,800 hotels is 65 per cent, said Pollard.