Tourism Dilemma Conventions Help Spokane; Fickle Weather Hurts N. Idaho

As the tourism and travel trade thaws out from another winter, hoteliers on one side of the border count dollars from more convention delegates while those on the other side curse Mother Nature.

A great December of national conventions filled Spokane hotels with conventioneers. City tax figures show healthy increases in lodging from the same time last year.

But in North Idaho, a promising start to the ski season turned sour when unseasonably warm weather in January melted many regional travelers’ will to ski.

The ski year for hoteliers and tourism outlets sputtered to a halt, finishing slightly behind year-earlier levels, said John Kozma of the Coeur d’Alene Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“When I look outside my window and see jet skis on Lake Coeur d’Alene in February, you know we’re in trouble,” Kozma said. “But our holidays here were great.”

The contrasting results from this year’s winter season highlight some advantages Spokane has over North Idaho in building tourism business.

Spokane’s winter travel industry depends heavily on attracting conventions, something that the city has at least partial control over. For ski resorts and hotels in North Idaho, winter success will always be at the whim of the weather.

Convention-goers are a more captive lot than skiers, who can take their money from resorts and the town supporting them at the first drop of rain.

Another advantage of conventions is that, once in town, convention delegates pretty much act like tourists.

“Most convention delegates typically premeeting or post-meeting do touristy-type things like eat at restaurants or play golf,” said John D. Hunt, head of the Resource Recreation and Tourism Department at the University of Idaho. “When I went to a recent convention in Spokane, I ate at a downtown restaurant and walked along the river just like any tourist might. It’s just that most convention and visitors’ bureau people divide their efforts between attracting tourists and conventions.”

The link between a strong convention economy and a strong tourism economy is no better demonstrated than by the intense competition for Olympic games.

Cities spend millions to attract the games. No one event can generate that much increased revenue, but the investment pays off in years and years of increased tourism from the publicity.

“Cities like Salt Lake City and Atlanta are much more concerned about the long-term tourism from getting the games,” Hunt said.

Spokane has pursued conventions vigorously since before the opening of the Ag Trade Center in early 1989, said Carolyn Ogden of the Spokane Convention and Visitors Bureau. Event planners even toured the facility while under construction to book conventions.

Those efforts have paid off, as reflected by steady growth in Spokane’s hotel/motel tax receipts.

Receipts during the first quarter of this year were 42 percent higher than in the first quarter of 1989. Since tax receipts lag actual events by two or three months, the first quarter numbers represent business in November through January, which is becoming a stronger convention season for Spokane.

Several national conventions along with an assortment of other meetings came to Spokane during December, Odgen said.

“December was just great for us, and it’s typically not a very good convention month,” she said.

The average convention delegate spends about $75 dollars a day in Spokane, according to Ogden’s figures. By contrast, a recent University of Idaho study showed that out-ofstate travelers driving through North Idaho can spend around $105 a day, Kozma said.

Those numbers look encouraging for North Idaho businesses. But the trouble is that same U of I study showed that more than half the out-of-state drivers in Idaho are headed somewhere else.

“We have to take a look at how we can get those people to stop here for a day or, preferably, several days,” Kozma said.

Conventions would be one way to do that, but Coeur d’Alene’s convention facilities and supporting businesses would need to grow significantly to attract bigger conventions, Hunt said.

The Coeur d’Alene Resort is the city’s primary convention hall, and a proposed second tower at the resort would have provided far more room. Plans for that tower are still on hold.

Conventions also would be a way to smooth out the huge swings in vacancy rates at North Idaho hotels, which are packed in the summer but often sparsely used in the winter.

Not that the hotels and tourism-based businesses in North Idaho were are all wet this winter. The snow was great on the mountains for almost the whole season, Kozma said.

But the schizophrenic weather - sunny and warm, rainy, then cold, then back to unseasonably warm - turned skiers off. The season finished 3 percent or 4 percent lower than last year’s for revenues, Kozma estimated.

Silver Mountain Resort had record numbers of skier visits through January, said Tim Newhart, marketing director for the resort in Kellogg.

But the weather in February and March slaked the skiing thirst, and the resort finished its fifth year about where it finished last year, he said.

Likewise, Kellogg hotels soaked up solid holiday season bookings, but saw the season end with a whimper. The 60-room Super 8 in Kellogg, now in its second year, is still half full most nights despite the ski resort being closed, said Kiffanie Schueman, an assistant manager there.

“We’re still the new kids on the block out here, but we had a great year,” she said.

Hoteliers aren’t alone in watching the clouds and the cash register at the same time.

North Idaho’s economic success seems continually tied to the weather. Fair weather allows for more logging and construction, the backbone of the area’s economy. The right combination of weather can make or break both skiing and summer tourism seasons.

“This just happens to be a very weather-dependent business to be in,” Newhart said from Silver Mountain, which was hurt by a lousy President’s Day weekend, traditionally a late-season boon for ski resorts. “You can plan and market all you want, but you just can’t do much about it when we get less than perfect conditions on those crucial holiday weekends.”

Despite the uncertainty of weather-based tourism, more hotel rooms are under construction in Coeur d’Alene and North Idaho.

More rooms drop occupancy elsewhere, squeezing profit margins for established hotels. The Coeur d’Alene market is nearing an over-built stage, said Paul Jinneman, hotel consultant in Federal Way, Wash.

Total taxable sales related to tourism - meals, lodging, attractions - grew about 4.5 percent in 1994, according to Idaho state tax commission numbers. Kozma forecasts only a 2 percent growth rate for the current year, as the poor Canadian exchange rate that kept many Canadians at home last summer is expected to be no better than last year.

But, as is the case every year, that forecast could brighten with a little help from Mother Nature.

One Chart: Spending the night

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Idaho tourism Total sales - including lodging, food and beverages - reported by all retaurants, hotels and other travel-related businesses in the five Panhandle counties. Sales in the winter months lag far behind those in the summer months: 1994 Fourth quarter $10,371,357 Third quarter $18,756,942 Second quarter $8,036,310 First quarter $5,931,720 1993 Fourth quarter $9,545,489 Third quarter $18,168,789 Second quarter $7,999,763 First quarter $5,586,172