Yellowknife (Jun 12/06) - A rising Canadian dollar coupled with high fuel costs could mean a poor summer for Northern tourism operators and service providers. Transportation cost increases have already hurt the North Nahanni Naturalist Lodge, said manager Ria Letcher.

While she didn't offer an exact tally of the Deh Cho establishment's bookings, she said, "It is down."

In the Sahtu, the number of tourists booking flights with North-Wright Airways is down by almost 80 per cent, said operations manager David James.

Tourists that travel to the region tend to be canoeists or hikers visit in small groups, he added.

"Our high dollar and high fuel prices are two big factors," he said.

"We haven't noticed a difference yet in terms of bookings," said Rick Phaneuf, general manager of the Sambaa K'e Fishing and Tourism Lodge and the Sambaa K'e Development Corporation which owns the Trout Lake camp.

While many operators will have to deal with more vacancies this summer, Phaneuf said Trout Lake doesn't plan on being among them.

"We've still got Americans coming," he said. This year, the Sambaa K'e lodge decided to better promote itself with an ad campaign in a national angling magazine.

Phaneuf said he hopes the investment will pay off and attract more southern tourists than usual.