Red Ink Washes Over Idaho Tourist Industry

The closure of Coeur d’Alene Greyhound Park and the imminent sale of Silver Mountain Ski & Summer Resort raise hard questions about North Idaho’s tourism economy.

Why can’t the current tourism operators make money? Is poor management to blame or more a tough tourism market? Will other tourism businesses travel down the same red-ink-stained carpet?

No easy answers come from tourism professionals. Some blame increased competition for a finite number of potential visitors. Others point to economic factors such as the weak Canadian economy and low airfares.

“The attractions in your area are not the type that draw tourists in the true sense,” said John Hunt, head of the resource recreation and tourism department at the University of Idaho.

North Idaho is no Sun Valley, and barring a major marketing effort, probably can’t count on becoming one, he said. “Yours is a local market that is pretty much saturated right now.”

That makes tourism the equivalent of a retailing good. And just as in retailing, as more stores crowd the landscape, others get squeezed out. It also makes tourism businesses subject to the same cyclical swings as retailers.

“Our industry has become so competitive,” said Bob Templin, owner of Templin’s Resort in Post Falls. “And with airfares so cheap, our locals are finding it easier to go other places. Combine that with fewer Canadians coming down, and we’re not seeing quite the impact we once were.”

Tourism marketers like John Kozma of Coeur d’Alene’s Convention and Visitors Bureau say those factors are hurting tourism in other areas as well.

“There’s just not a lot of growth going on anywhere in the industry,” Kozma said. “We’ve gone through a big growth spurt and it has mellowed out a little bit.”

One thing is clear: The balance sheets of North Idaho attractions aren’t pretty.

The Greyhound Park owners, after investing $15 million in a plush clubhouse and track, reported losses of nearly $22 million over eight years. The last races will be Dec. 31.

Von Roll AG, the Swiss manufacturer that invested $16.8 million in bonds to bring Silver Mountain Resort to life, stands to lose about $14 million on its investment when the resort changes hands, according to a proposed bid for the mountain by Spokane-based Alliance Financial Group Inc.

The ski area failed to generate enough profit to even cover the interest payments on the bonds.

The Festival at Sandpoint, a non-profit organization, finally cleared its debts from the mid-1980s in 1993. The Festival stands to be in the red again this year, said Connie Berghan, executive director, and “probably cannot withstand another really poor year like we had last year.”

Even Schweitzer Mountain Resort, viewed as the region’s skiing jewel, rarely has been profitable this decade, according to former management there.

Huge losses for Silver Mountain and the Greyhound Park, tourism observers say, suggest North Idaho has a hard time drawing customers from outside the region.

Some tourism observers have questioned whether the Inland Northwest has enough population to support those attractions.

North Idaho’s tourism growing pains re-emphasize the importance of cultivating the local market.

“Most of the Panhandle is keyed into a local market,” Hunt said. “Other than a few specialty markets that might visit The Coeur d’Alene Resort, the facilities up there live and die on Spokane.”

Are there enough locals to support an ambitious ski resort, or a greyhound racing track?

According to studies by The Finch Group of Boston - the broker selling Silver Mountain - only about 710,000 people live within 210 miles of Kellogg.

While Hunt said there’s probably enough people to keep tourism attractions running, competition among tourism outlets will weed out the weaker draws, and dog racing appears to be one of them.

Gambling, skiing, outdoor recreation and even shopping centers such as the Factory Outlets at Post Falls slice the tourist dollar into smaller pieces.

Greyhound Park management cited lack of interest in dog racing as one of many factors that will lead to the track’s closure.

The Alabama-based racing company ran the park in the red for seven years, believing that different marketing of the dogs would make the park turn the corner. It never happened.

Tourism professionals accept the recent setbacks as normal growing pains.

Silver Mountain is being shopped to buyers from around the country who believe there is money to be made.

Clearly, tourism continues to create service jobs and foster construction of restaurants and hotels. So much so that the area suffers a glut of hotel rooms, thinning profits in that area.

Hunt said an area’s tourism success remains proportionate to its marketing efforts.

That’s what makes the closure of Greyhound Park’s dog track hurt even more.

Both Kozma and the Post Falls tourism marketing group received tens of thousands of dollars from the amount of money bet on the races. The legislation that created the track set aside the money for marketing.

With that money - as much as $180,000 in a single year for Kozma, about to be gone - the agencies are scrambling for new ways to pay for selling North Idaho.

“The park closing really may hurt the area more in the long run from the lack of marketing money than just from the track,” Hunt said.

“Marketing makes all the difference.”

, DataTimes