Welcome sign is out

In 2005, the tourism industry finally shook off the worst of the 9/11 doldrums. For the first time in four years, national hotel occupancy rates surged past pre-2001 levels.

Tourism spending is expected to increase again this year, industry experts say — good news for local hoteliers, restaurants and retailers.

“It’s taken a long time to recover, but we’re finally back on the growth track,” said Jonathan Coe, general manager of the Coeur d’Alene Area Chamber of Commerce.

Tourism is a major industry for the region, pumping millions of dollars into the economy. Locally, the recovery translated into higher demand for hotel rooms in 2005, and increased revenue.

Kootenai County’s hotel-motel receipts grew by 9 percent over the past year. Demand for rooms increased 4 percent, and room rates rose from an average of $92 to $98, according to figures from Smith Travel Research, a Tennessee firm that tracks trends in the travel industry.

In Spokane County, the growth was more modest. Hotel-motel receipts grew by nearly 5 percent, and room demand increased by 1 percent.

The industry’s recovery has also triggered a round of new construction. Two new hotels are planned for Coeur d’Alene; Silverwood Theme Park is spending $1 million on a new ride for its 2006 season; and the Coeur d’Alene Resort will undergo $20 million worth of renovations, including a spa expansion.

According to Coe, the investments bode well for the region’s tourism spending over the next several years. Silverwood owner Gary Norton expects the theme park’s new ride, Panic Plunge, to push attendance passed the 500,000 mark this year. The park, near Athol, Idaho, draws visitors from the Puget Sound region, the Tri-Cities, southern Canada and western Montana. Meanwhile, Coeur d’Alene Resort owner Duane Hagadone hopes to make the new spa a destination for health-conscious travelers.

Across the state line, bets are hedged on an $80 million expansion and remodel of the Spokane Convention Center, whose new exhibit hall will open in mid- to late 2006. The center has already signed up several large meetings and conventions for future years, including the 2010 National Rural Letter Carriers conference, which will bring 3,000 delegates to Spokane.

“We wouldn’t have had the space to host these conferences in our old center,” said Harry Sladich, president and chief executive officer of the Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau.

In the near term, however, convention business remains a harder sell. The ongoing construction is a psychological barrier for some group coordinators, Sladich said. They won’t book, even though the work on a new exhibit hall isn’t affecting the current space.

Sladich also pointed to a slowdown in group travel as a factor in Spokane County’s relatively flat hotel occupancy rates in 2005.

Hoteliers started the year with a bleak outlook for group travel. Fortunately, he said, they were able to replace much of that business with leisure travelers, a tourism segment that was very strong in 2005.

The CVB continues to court those travelers. For the first time, the CVB is launching a print advertising campaign in California, whose residents are showing up here in growing numbers. The advertisements will emphasize fine dining in the city and the proximity of outdoor recreation.

A weakening of the U.S. dollar is helping bring Canadian travelers back the Inland Northwest. Also, the CVB continues to recruit tourists from its core markets in the smaller towns of Eastern Washington and western Montana for shopping and entertainment.

“We’re their Seattle or their San Francisco,” Sladich said.