‘It has been devastating’: Annual report reveals tourism took huge hit in 2020

LETHBRIDGE, ALTA. – The past year has been an unprecedented time to travel with the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw widespread business closings and travel restrictions.

It also had unprecedented effects on the tourism sector.

Lethbridge Tourism released their annual report on May 6, confirming it had been a tough year for tourism in the city.

Hotels and accommodations across Lethbridge have been a major hit due to a sharp drop in travel.

“It was devastating,” said Shilpa Stocker, who Lethbridge Lodging AssociationProject manager.

“Obviously, like other companies, the impact has been significant. Our utilization, I would say, has dropped an average of about 60 percent. When the utilization drops 60 percent, the rate is under pressure.”

To help, the Lethbridge Lodging Association is doing everything it can to encourage more provincial tourism by offering Lethbridge-specific packages.

“We want to take advantage of the outdoor hiking and biking trails this summer and create hiking trail packages to make sure we have unique offers and people come here, not just because of the discounted hotel rates, but also because we have unique things have to do.” Offer, “Stocker told CTV.

NOT ONLY HOTELS

It’s not just hotels that have been hit, however.

Other tourist attractions in Lethbridge also have problems, like this one Nikka Yuko Japanese GardensThe number of visitors fell by 17 percent compared to previous years.

“Last year we couldn’t open in May, which is unfortunate because that’s when our crab apple blossoms are in bloom,” said Michelle Day, Executive Director of Nikka Yuko.

“We were lucky enough to be open from June to October, but unfortunately we lost around 38 percent of our visitors during that time from May to October.”

Fortunately, Day said they had a successful December for the Winter Lights Festival thanks to the community.

“We’ve had great support for Lethbridge. The locals came and we had 83 percent of our December and January visitors from Lethbridge, which helped us increase attendance for the Winter Lights Festival by 17 percent.”

Nikka Yuko Japanese Gardens will again postpone their opening in May and hope to be ready by June 3rd.

EXHIBITION PARK

Exhibition park also had a difficult year due to the ongoing pandemic.

Unfortunately, they had to cancel 2020 Whoop-up daysand the possibility of holding the event in 2021 is still open.

“Obviously, COVID-19 has negatively impacted our daily operations,” said Mike Warkentin, the newly appointed chief operating officer for Exhibition Park.

“We couldn’t invite people here, we couldn’t gather people, which is really one of our main tasks here in the community.”

However, Warkentin said they were able to hold one of their larger events before the pandemic hit, which helped them tremendously.

“We were fortunate to be able to hold the ‘Ag Expo Show’ in 2020, which is a great financial boost for our organization, but also an enormous economic boost for our community.”

Warkentin is pleased to be opening the 2021 farmers’ market together with everyone else in the exhibition park, which begins tomorrow in the south pavilion.

With summer 2021 approaching, these local Lethbridge staples and businesses look forward to more people coming out of Lethbridge and beyond to see what they have to offer and hope to avoid another tough season.

The full Lethbridge Tourism 2020 Annual Report is available here.