The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 7, 2003 - A3 EN, But some sectors report they are doing just fine By JEFF NAGEL A COLLAPSE in summer bookings has some tour- ism-dependent businesses here bracing for catastro- phe. Fear of terrorism, war and now the disease SARS is keeping Americans in particular away, local RV park operators say. SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) is the main culprit even though Toronto — site of most Canadian cases of the disease - is farther from Terrace than much of the U.S, “Americans aren't dif- ferentiating between Tor- onto and B.C,," said Yvonne Danrath, owner of the Wild Duck motel and RV park. “They’ve been terrified.” She said her bookings are down dramatically. The Wild Duck is only 15 per cent booked for July right now — usually 70 per cent of its July spaces would already be spoken for by this point. Danroth isn’t alone. The Reel Inn motel and RV park also reports a tiny fraction of the usual num- ber of tourists have pre- booked. “We've got basically no bookings,” owner Peter Gill said. “Our whole sum- mer season is heoped.” Gill said even’ if the SARS crisis in Ontario somehow subsides quickly TERRACE MAY be thousands of miles away from Toronto but that city’s SARS problem is having an impact here on tourism bookings, says Wild Duck motel and RV park owner Yvonne Danroth. It seams Americans aren't figuring out there’s a world of difference ~ and distance — between B.C. -and Toronto and that has Danroth and others worried about business this summer. it will be too late, because tourists have already made their travel plans. “This is the beginning of the season and people book in advance,” he said. Other factors also work against Canadian tourism operators. Gas prices remain high and the rising Canadian dollar is making a vaca- tion in Canada more ex- pensive than it used to be for Americans. Canadian bookings are also way down and both, Danroth and Gill blame the B,C. government's move to dramatically raise angling fees this year. Out-of-province tourists will pay double to fish classified waters this year, _and more for a host of other fishing fees as well. That adds up to hun- dreds of dollars extra in li- cence fees this year for a group of Albertans fishing here for a couple of weeks. “The Albertans don’t. want to pay the extra money and 1 can’t blame them,” Danroth said. “It’s going to hit us very, very hard, We're going to get slammed.” Some local fishing guides, however, are still reporting strong bookings for the summer. The Kermodei Ledge still has good book- ings from Germany and Austria. And Westcoast Fishing Adventures, which caters Bear . primarily’ to U.S.. anglers, is nearly full for July and August : Owner Justin Gyger said fall bookings are softer so far, adding that may be in part due to SARS but more likely the result of the de- pressed U.S. economy “Everyone is having to work harder for the bookings,” he added. Gyger said angling fee increases aren’t a factor for higher-end lodge custo- mers. Two locals on transportation group TWO TERRACE residents have been named to a regional committee set up to advise the provincial government on transportation mat- fers, Pages from Masset on the Queen Charlottes, Dick Bandstra from Smithers and David Mc- Guigan from Prince Rupert round out the membership. portation system to ensure economic growth in all regions of the province,” added trans-~ portation minister Judith Reid. The provincial government this year slap- News In Brief New Skeena woods official Derrick Curtis and local logging contractor Ken Houlden are among eight named to the committee. _Also named is Kitimat municipal councillor Joanne Monaghan, who has spoken repeatedly of winter road maintenance, . Fe Bill Zemenchik from Smithers- is the com- mittee chair. aaa Eileen Benedict from Burns Lake, Barry wt wets wii bee or ae McGuigan is a strong proponent of offshore oil and gas development. “As we expand transportation infrastructure throughout the province, we want to make sure communities and regions have a strong voice in identifying local transportation needs,’ rm Premier: Gordon Campbell: ‘atva-meeting: of new regional groups. ~** * an “British Columbia needs an effective trans- TK Airc? Flights start May 12, 2003 Call Hawkair to book all flights 1°866042905247 aid ped on a 3.5 cent a litre gas tax to help fi- nance its road plans, particularly in the north. Regional transportation committees aren’t new, Previous governments also introduced them as a way of determining how road and bridge budgets should be set and spent. “Terrace-based transportation ministry ‘offi- this region. TK Ait Twin ac . =: PRINCE RUPERT - AT PRINCE RUPERT FT# vancouver Su/ Mi T| Wi Th] FiSat Bat 7:30 am = 8:00 am 254: 8:20 am - 10:30 am Vidi vid y “561; 8:30 am = 9:00 am “264. 9:30 am + 11:30 am { “559: 1:20 pm - 1:50 pm (259° 230pm- 4:30 pm Vitivl [¥ HAWKAIR Qash 8 — : Suj:M) T| W) Th F/Sat '552° 2:30 pm - 3:00 pm Wav |a 654: 7:20 pm - 7:50 pm ViVi vid] Other TK Flights TK Wir Available l | Mas Fe SET AUPEAT Sul Ml T| WIThi-F|Sat 9:20 am - 6:50 am 505: 6:20 pm - 6:50 pm AVA] A __TERRACE - PRINCE RUPERT + 6:20 pm - 6:50 pm PRINGE RUPERT + TERRACE cial Don Ramsay is working with the group in*’ Paving planned TENDERS HAVE gone out to re-do the surface of Hwy37 from Onion Lake south to Kitimat and to fix up a short section of the road leading to Kita- maat Village. The Onion Lake to Kitimat project will involve smoothing out some rough spots underneath the pa- vement and then resurfacing the road using what's called “hot in place” recycling, says transportation ministry official Don Ramsay. “What we'll do is grind up what's there and put in down again with a mixture of new material,” he said, The 3-4km section of the road leading to Kita- maat Village is broken up in places and needs work to eliminate the “alligator” effect of the sur- face, added Ramsay. ’ More road announcements are expected soon as the transportation ministry readies its work plan. Group opposes seal hunt THE HUMANE Society of Canada is denouncing the idea of a west coast seal hunt. Skeena MP Andy Burton and North Coast MLA Bill Belsey have pushed for consideration of a commercial seal hunt, along with a Skidegate Haida chief. The humane society said it will vigourously op- pose any such proposal, adding studies show sal- mon make up a very small part of a seal’s diet. Al Hickey, the society’s western director, said Ottawa should deny the request and deal with real factors behind the decline of west coast salmon. “Slaughtering seals will not have a positive im- pact on the salmon population,” he said. “But ef- fectively dealing with fish farms, pollution, over- ‘fishing and habitat destruction will.” Road alarm sounds STEWART town councillors say the newest report from Alaskan proponents of a road from the pan- handle to Hwy 37 raises even more alarms. Craig Caruso, a councillor there and the town's rep to the regional district board, says many of the benefits itemized by Alaskans look more like po- tential losses on this side of the border. He said the new report points to coal, gold and copper deposits in B.C. to which it says the road could “provide more efficient access.” “This is not a tourism road, rather it is a resource road designed to allow easy U.S. access to B.C. resources,” Caruso said. “This is going to have a direct negative impact on Siewart and Prince Ru- pert and an indirect impact on the entire northwest region of the province.” He said it's also quite possible Alaska would eli- minate its ferry terminal at Prince Rupert once the road is in place. Caruso also said the road would effectively con- nect two pulp mills and five sawmills in southeast Alaska to a timber supply in B.C. The road project has been presented by its back- ers as intended to cred new tourism routes ‘and to’ end Alaskan reliance y the, etsy, system ~-particusy;, larly in getting fish to tHarket.