Thorunn Howatt
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 21/01) - Despite a possible slow down in this year's number of Japanese tourists, tour operators say Yellowknife's economy will still get a huge boost from the visitors.

Annually, the city hosts over 13,000 Japanese people either as part of a short-stay trip that could include three days in the North and two days in Vancouver, or as a larger Canadian tour where Yellowknife would be a side trip.

Aurora tours account for 30 per cent of the territory's tourist visitations.

"There is a fairly large operation in town that people don't know about," said Raven Tour's Bill Tait. "We often get 150 (Japanese visitors) per night."

The Yellowknife tour operator employs 105 people and focuses mainly on bringing in the over 10,000 Japanese tourists who want to witness the aurora borealis. Tait would like to see the Yellowknife community become more aware of the opportunities resulting from international tourism.

"The Japanese come here to see the aurora," said Tait. The Japanese culture has a very close tie to nature and the people are lured by the beauty of the Northern lights, he said.

Each tourist pays between $1,500 and $3,500 Cdn to visit the North. When they are here they witness aurora every night and fit in dog sledding, snowmobiling, caribou-viewing tours, drum-dance trips and aboriginal experiences. City tours take visitors to destinations all around the city.

"The government study, including all the aurora operators, shows about $25 million of income," said Tait, referring to a recently released study.

The Sept. 11 tragedy is still adversely affecting Japan and limiting the number of travellers coming to North America, said Tait.

"However, day by day we are getting better and better reports from Japan," he said.

This year Raven Tours welcomed 700 Japanese visitors during the early fall season of Aug. 3 to Sept. 20. This is compared to 300 last year.

Most visitors come during the winter when the days are shortest and the aurora viewing is best.

Tait wants to encourage Yellowknifers to learn more about how to provide hospitality to Japanese visitors.

"We think the Japanese bring a lot more to the town than pure dollars. They are a wonderful and interesting culture," he said.

"Being that our season starts in late November, December we have lost some, but the group lots are still reserved and the Japanese companies in Vancouver are hoping that it will go through, we are kind of in the dark right now," said director of operations for Regency International, Denie Olmstead. Regency International owns Yellowknife's Explorer and Discovery hotels.

The Explorer Hotel provides accommodations for many of Raven Tour's visitors.

"For November we have felt a loss. For December definitely we have felt some losses -- probably 30 to 40 per cent," said Olmstead.

Olmstead blames the Sept. 11 terrorism acts for the downturn. More than half of Regency's hotel business is attributed to Japanese tourist stays.

The Aurora Village is another popular Yellowknife destination for Japanese tourists. It is expecting visitors to arrive in December as part of a larger tour that would include Banff and Niagara Falls.

Last year, owner Michael Morin hosted a total of 600 people from Japan.

"We do expect (visits) to be down-sized but we think we should have a good year anyway," said Morin, who also blames the Sept. 11 tragedy on lower sales.

First Air is still moving forward with a new route announced earlier this year. The Vancouver-Yellowknife direct flight, known as the Aurora Express, will operate five days a week starting Dec. 29.

"It's busy. We have lots of Japanese bookings on those flights," said First Air's director of sales and marketing Michael Olson.

Olson said the company has lost about 25 per cent of overall bookings since Sept. 11.