Tourism Wells Gray Economic Impact Study For Clearwater & Wells Gray Country July - 2012
1.0
What is Economic Impact? Economic impact is the measure of spending and employment associated with a certain sector of the economy. Economic impact can be measured in many ways however three of the most reliable and effective measurements are total value of spending (direct & indirect), person years of employment generated within the sector and the associated tax contributions to various levels of government. 1.1
Scope of the Study. The Tourism industry in Clearwater and within Wells Gray Country and Wells Gray Provincial Park generates employment for individuals involved in Accommodation, Food and Beverage, Sports Tourism, Adventure Tourism and associated retail support services. This study estimates the total economic impacts and tax contributions of the identified set of tourism and associated businesses for 2011. 1.2
General outline of report. Chapter 1 explains the methodology behind data collection and data interpretation. Chapter 2 explains the methods and practices involved in estimating direct & indirect spend related to accommodation occupancy. Chapter 3 explains the methods and practices involved in estimating Labor & Tax contributions related to accommodation occupancy and retail spending. Chapter 4 explains the relationship and practices involved with interpreting BC Parks visitor data charts and reports. Chapter 5 limitations of data collection and interpretation methodology used. Chapter 6 summary of results and recommendations.
Chapter 1: Data collection has been undertaken by the Tourism Manager using methods and procedures considered applicable to this study to calculate estimated economic impact during the period of January 1st 2011 – December 31st 2011. Questionnaire: this was emailed out to all Tourism businesses registered as stakeholders with Tourism Wells Gray and also emailed to tourism members of the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce. 80 – Questionnaires sent out (21 returned- 26.25% response rate) 11 – Questionnaires completed verbally Total questionnaires used for data analysis 32- or 40% Although the sample data set is relatively small, the response was representative having multiple data streams from each sector of the community.
Verbal data collection: approx 14% of respondents did so verbally and comments were recorded by the Tourism Manager, using the questionnaire to record information Visual-Verbal assessment: associated businesses within the retail and service sector were monitored over a 4 day period in June 2012 to collect visitor numbers and associated spend, although this data set was limited in its scope it provided accurate financial information. District and Provincial Request: both the District of Clearwater and BC Parks have been instrumental in supplying historically accurate data for sports facilities and Amenities within Clearwater, Wells Gray and North Thompson Provincial Parks. Data acquired by visual & verbal assessment in June 2012 was applied retroactively to the relevant sectors for 2011 estimates based on room occupancy %.
Chapter 2: Occupancy Based Economic Impact: the established methodology for estimating tourism impact is directly related to visitor room nights either within fixed roof accommodation (hotels , motels , B&B’s ) Camping & RV’s and other accommodation options such as bunk houses or floating lodges. This approach enables us to predict with established accuracy a per person per day contribution to the local and regional economy, dependant on the total number of guests in each accommodation type and their length of stay. While some economic models have fixed multipliers that generate an impact figure regardless of regional annomolies or local impacting factors, the model we have employed is specifically designed for Clearwater and the surrounding area and accounts for product availability, seasonality of available product and the transient nature of a large percentage of our guests within the motor home segment. Regardless of their accommodation type most visitors still have a need for similar services and products to a varying degree and in this regard all multiplying factors are formulated on a sectoral and season basis for our region in particular.
Chapter 3 Labor Contribution within the Tourism Sector: the extremely seasonal nature of the tourism sector within our region produces some challenges for the typical impact model due to the interchangeable and transient nature of the workforce. As a result the Clearwater model relies on assumed industry standards and expert opinion as heavily as documented expenditure. The labor component is linked directly to the occupancy percentage for all accommodation providers (fixed roof, B&B and Campgrounds & RV’s and retail food and beverage operators) Accommodation providers are split into three categories A, B, C dependant on price point, perceived level of quality and operating hours within the season, the model is then adapted to account for variations in individual hours and service levels. The report is then split into four categories: 1) 2) 3) 4)
Basic tax rate average weighting of 18% CPP contribution at 4.96% EI contribution at 1.83% Total Wage contribution
Chapter 4: BC Parks data analysis: due to the accurate and historical data supplied by BC Parks and Blackwell Park Operations , the volume of information provides a solid foundation for established economic multipliers within this sector and a clear and concise understanding of visitor patterns within Wells Gray , North Thompson and other associated parks and locations. Original data is recorded as individual visitor numbers and visitor parties (per car or per vehicle) for the purpose of this study all figures are converted to individual visitor numbers.
Chapter 5: Limitations of data collection and methodology within the study: it is important to remember that the scope of this study is targeted specifically at our rural tourism market rather than producing a generic study that would give us economic impact generated by multipliers that include major urban centers such as Vancouver , Victoria or Kelowna it is important to note that the two most commonly used tourism multiplier packages include at least two of these centers within their calculation skewing the final impact by comparison to a rural model. Interpretation of available data (expert opinion) also forms an integral part of a rural impact study as such it is important to understand that the Tourism Manager has been a front line operator for 10 years, a Hotel GM and Regional Hotel Director in Europe and North America for over 10 years, a successful business owner and held the position of Economic Development officer and Tourism Manager for a city of 35,000 people for 3 years.
Although most Economic models employ a format based on averages over a given time frame this traditional approach fails to account for the extreme seasonality of our weather dependant rural tourism industry in this regard we have formatted a percentage occupancy chart that better reflects our occupancy, however even within this adaptive model some manual adjustments have been made for specific operators and product segments, See Below: Average monthly occupancy % used for accommodation based impact study. Jan 5%
Feb 5%
Mar 10%
Apr 20%
May 25%
Jun 45%
Jul 85%
Aug 85%
Sep 80%
Oct 15%
Nov 5%
Dec 5%
In certain formulas where a zero value is representative of actual persons or revenue a nominal value of 0.1 is entered to facilitate a predictive outcome. Where relevant the data gathered during the Additional Hotel Room Tax application has been applied and verified through provincial data sets in line with “Grant Thornton-Best Practices” document 2007, supported by Tourism Wells Gray’s application for the taxable status. Where insufficient data is present, comparative communities were used as a benchmark and available data was combined with averages for specific sectors only. (RV’s , Fishing ,Flying , Photography)
Fig 1.0
Financial impact of fixed roof accommodations (Hotels, Motels, Resorts) driven by occupancy for 2011 Total Room Inventory: 122,275 room nights per year
Total Room Availability: 104,850 room nights per year
Total Properties in Data Set: 15 > Ave 22.3 Rooms each
$800,000 $700,000 $600,000 $500,000 $400,000 $300,000 $200,000 $100,000 $0
Direct Spend
60% of properties operate for 12 months 40% of properties operate for 7 months or less
Fig 1:1
December November October September August July June May April March February January
Total Spend – Fixed Roof Accommodations
Fig 2.0
Financial Impact of Bed & Breakfast accommodations driven by occupancy for 2011
Total Room Inventory: 22,320 room nights per year
Total Room Availability: 14,880 room nights per year
Total Properties in Data Set: 24 > Ave 2.5 rooms per property
70 % of properties operate a varied season. Average 7 Months
Fig 2:1
Fig 3.0
Financial impact of Camping & RV accommodations driven by occupancy for 2011.
Total Room Inventory: 282,240 room nights per year
Total Room Availability: 176,400 room nights per year
Total Properties in Data Set: 18 > Ave 43.5 sites per property
$450,000 $400,000 $350,000 $300,000 $250,000 $200,000 $150,000 $100,000 $50,000 $0
Direct Spend Camping & Rv Accommodations
65 % of properties operate a 7 month season
35 % of properties operate a season less than 7 months
Fig 3:1
December November October September August July June May April March February January
Total Revenue Generated-Camping & RV Accommodations
Fig 4.0
Financial impact of Food & Beverage spending non associated revenue for 2011
Total Business in data set: 25
Total business retail only: 11
Total business retail & accommodation: 6
Total business other: 8
14 business operate a 12 month season
10 businesses operate a 7 month season or less
1 business is coach tours to region.
Fig 4:1
Fig 5.0
Financial impact of activities spending (day use) non associated revenue for 2011
Total Activities in Data set: 12
Summer activities: 7
Winter activities: 4
Year round activities: 1 (photography)
Zero data for snowmobiling or snowshoeing for 2011
Fig 6.0
Financial impact day use BC Parks - Wells Gray & North Thompson
Data set contains 7 locations Data set includes Coach Tour numbers but excludes F&B revenue Data set includes marine fees and associated spending
Fig 6:1
$350,000 $300,000 $250,000 $200,000 $150,000 $100,000 $50,000 $0
Total Revenue Activities Day Visitors
BC Parks Day Visitor Revenue % Per Month 1% 6%
Oct
1% 0% 1% 2% 2%
January 6%
February
May
18%
September
18%
March April May June
August 25%
July 20%
July August September October November
Fig 7.0
Financial Impact of wage contributions from fixed roof accommodations driven by occupancy for 2011 Housekeeping & Maintenance Dept’s
8000.0 6000.0 4000.0
Housekeeping & Maintenance Hrs Worked - Fixed Roof Accommodations
15 properties in data set
2000.0 0.0
335 rooms in data set
Base rate tax ave 18%
CPP rate @ 4.95%
EI rate @ 1.83%
Fig 8.0
Financial Impact of wage contributions from B&B accommodations driven by occupancy for 2011
24 properties in data set
62 rooms in data set
Base rate tax ave 18% $12,000 $10,000 $8,000 $6,000 $4,000 $2,000 $0
Gross Wage - B&B CPP rate @ 4.95%
EI rate @ 1.83
Fig 9.0
Financial Impact of wage contributions from Camping & RV accommodations driven by occupancy 2011 Housekeeping & Maintenance dept.
1000 800 600
Total Hrs Worked Maintenance & Grounds - Camping RV Accommodations
17 campsites in data set
400 200 0
156,450 sites in data set
Base rate tax ave 18%
CPP rate @ 4.95%
EI rate @ 1.83
Fig 10.0
Financial impact of wage contribution for fixed roof accommodations (Hotels, Motels, Resorts) driven by occupancy – Front of House / Back of House 2011
Total Room Inventory: 122,275 room nights per year. Total Room Availability: 104,850 room nights per year. 15 properties in data set. Ave of 22.3 rooms per property. 9 properties operate for 12 months a year 6 properties operate for 7 months a year Base rate tax ave 18% CPP rate @ 4.95% EI rate @ 1.83
Fig 11.0
Financial impact of Sports Tourism (North Thompson Sportsplex) Tournaments in 2011
67 games in data set 56 games involved overnight stay 56 days facility use 1365 people
Fig 12.0
Financial impact of Sports Tourism – (North Thompson Sportsplex) Regular Games in 2011
48 tournaments in data set 33 tournaments involved overnight stay 123 days facility use 1720 people
Sportsplex Games 2011
$241,141; 58%
Direct Spend
Indirect spend $71,663; 17%
Room Revenue $90,616; 22% $13,150; 3%
Game Fees
Fig 13.0
Financial impact of Sports Tourism (Baseball) games in 2011
42 games in data set
1720 people attended
Fig 14.0
Visitor Numbers & Origin through Visitor Center – 2011
69157226
8000 6000
Visitor numbers recorded through visitor Center for months of:
4274
4000
1880
2000
May,June,July,Aug
0
2011
9720 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0
Visitors place of Origin for months of
4451 2463 297
766 493 170 954
791 190
2011
Duration of Visitor Stay for months of: May,June,July,Aug
8,834
10000 8000 6000
May,June July,Aug
4,776
4,406
4000
1,823
2000
2011
1,543 12
0 Same Day
1 x Day
2 x Day
3 x Day
4-6 Days 7-13 Days
Visitor Center-Total Traffic Recorded
July, 22144, 35% August, 22781, 36%
June, 12947, 20%
May , 5983, 9%
Chapter 6 Summary of the economic impact of Tourism and associated businesses within “Wells Gray Country” and Provincial Park’s for the period Jan 1st 2011 – Dec 31st 2011 Total visitor numbers using the Visitor Center: May-Aug 2011: 63,855 Total visitor numbers entering Wells Gray & North Thompson Provincial Parks: 93,291 Total room nights: 93,055 Total Direct spend: $8,030,684 Total indirect spend: $10,858,200 Total wages: $2,457,742 Total CPP, EI: $166,635 Total person years of employment generated by hourly paid employees: 123.3 yrs (Excluding North Thompson Sportsplex &Volunteer multiplier) Total number of tourism based visitors: 578,445 Total property Tax contribution B&B sector: $47,773
To match the revenue generated by tourism every man, woman and child within “Wells Gray Country” would have to earn approx $4,197 extra income per year For every resident in “Wells Gray Country” the community hosts the equivalent of - 129 visitors per year
Total Estimated Economic Impact of Tourism in “Wells Gray Country” in 2011: $21,513,261 Note* 1) 2) 3)
4) 5) 6) 7) 8)
it should be noted that wage contribution staitstics for several major retail outlets were not available within the scope of this study. It should be noted that statistics for several known activities were not available within the scope of this study (snowshoeing snowmobiling ,hunting) It should be noted that due to the method of data collection for BC Assesment , it is not possible within the scope of this study to define the assessed value or property tax payable for tourism businesses that contain class 1 , 6 , 8 designations however as B&B businesses are private residences they have been included in the study. It should be noted that calculations for Labor contribution included operator owner hours at a ratio of 2.5 : 1 During the formatting of this report it became very apparent that many businesses receive substantial revenue form tourist traffic that is not captured within the scope of this report , retail stores , gas stations and hardware stores are all examples of this LOST revenue stream. Events & festival revenue has not been captured at this time, due to the “local” focus of community events at this time. Tourism Businesses that contain multiple classes within the BC Assessment” system have not been captured at this time , however a conservative estimate would be in excess of $2m a year At this time induced regional spending has not been calculated due to the complex nature of the local economy, and available time frame
Data Sources & Reference Points i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x. xi. xii. xiii. xiv.
Canadian Sports tourism Alliance: http://canadiansporttourism.com/ Canadian Sports Tourism Economic Assessment: http://canadiansporttourism.com/industry-tools/steam-sport-tourismeconomic-assessment-model.html BC Recreation & Parks Alliance: http://www.bcrpa.bc.ca/ Economic benefits BC Parks : http://www.spacesfornature.org/greatspaces/pdf_files/parks_economic_benefits.pdf Economic Impact model Parks Canada : http://174.143.205.154/miep-eimpa/manuel-manual-eng.do#s1 Intervistas Consulting Group – Thompson Okanagan sector reports http://investkelowna.com/documents/2011TourismKelownaEconomicImpactStudy.pdf Information Wells Gray Best practices for the “effective use of additional hotel room tax” Grant Thornton – 2007 Ref:Doc Thompson Okanagan Request For”Additional Hotel Room Tax “status July 2010. District of Clearwater BC District of Clearwater “BC Assessment” property tax classifications listing Alberta Tourism, Parks & Recreation : http://tpr.alberta.ca/tourism/research/ecoimpacts.aspx Ministry Jobs , Tourism & Innovation: http://www.jti.gov.bc.ca/research/IndustryPerformance/ValueofTourism.htm Thompson Okanagan Tourism : http://www.jti.gov.bc.ca/research/ResearchByRegion/pdf/thompson_okanagan/Thompson_Okanagan_Regional_Profi le_2009.pdf