Oil price drop leads to business travel drop in Calgary

The drop in oil prices has led to a decrease in business travel in the city, so Tourism Calgary is trying to attract more leisure travellers to fill empty hotel rooms.

Business travellers usually fill one quarter of the hotel rooms in Calgary, but since the economic downturn, that segment of the market has dropped nearly 7 per cent.

"We're putting together a campaign with the hotel association, the malls and multiple partners to help generate more leisure travel into Calgary," says Tourism Calgary spokesperson Jeff Hessel.

"We've got a very strong offering for regional, national and American travellers to come to Calgary," he added, pointing to a series of events this fall, including the YYComedy festival, Honens piano competition and the Beakerhead art and science festival.

Concerns of long-term impact

Bob Alsop and his wife, Chris, are visiting Calgary from Victoria Harbour in South Australia.

"I just can't get over the cleanliness ... you don't see any rubbish," said Alsop.

They both say they would like to visit Calgary again — and are exactly the kind of people Tourism Calgary hopes to entice to our city to make up for the drop in business travellers.

Banff tourism booming

Hotel Arts, located in Calgary's downtown, hopes to benefit from that change.

The boutique hotel is having a good summer, but spokesperson Fraser Abbott says they too are concerned about the long-term impact of bargain basement oil prices.

"We're concentrating increasingly on other market segments that can backfill the loss of some of that oil and gas business that we used to enjoy."

Even as Calgary weathers the effects of a sluggish economy, things are booming in Banff, where the low Canadian dollar has boosted American travel to the area.

Banff tourism officials say they've noted a 20 per cent jump over last year in American visitors.