3426 replies to this topic

[Dexter]

Actually based on cdc site, 7. So at least 29% of the local cases are in Sidney.

Edited by Klapecki, 06 September 2020 - 08:02 AM.

[TFord]

Wait, weren’t there 2 restaurants in Sidney shut down for covid positive staff? Maybe there were more covid issues than you thought.
 

 

thanks for the info

 

TFord

Edited by TFord, 06 September 2020 - 08:55 AM.

[spanky123]

A month or two ago I commented that north of Victoria the tourism sector was doing very well. In return, Helps and council apologists insisted that tourism was suffering across the board and that Victoria hadn't become a cesspool that tourists avoided. I noticed that Chemistry had stopped reporting on Nanaimo hotel figures so I thought that I would look it up myself. https://businessexam...h-new-approach/

 

Sure enough, Nanaimo hotels reported 70-85% occupancy in July (Victoria was less than 35%). 

 

Time for industry spokespeople to get their heads out of their butts and start representing or else there won't be an industry left even when covid subsides.

[Rob Randall]

An informal survey of Airbnb guests reveals pretty much a split between visitors from the Lower Mainland and Alberta with a smaller number coming from Toronto and elsewhere in BC.

[vortoozo]

A month or two ago I commented that north of Victoria the tourism sector was doing very well. In return, Helps and council apologists insisted that tourism was suffering across the board and that Victoria hadn't become a cesspool that tourists avoided. I noticed that Chemistry had stopped reporting on Nanaimo hotel figures so I thought that I would look it up myself. https://businessexam...h-new-approach/

 

Sure enough, Nanaimo hotels reported 70-85% occupancy in July (Victoria was less than 35%). 

 

Time for industry spokespeople to get their heads out of their butts and start representing or else there won't be an industry left even when covid subsides.

 

Nanaimo has it's own homeless issues. There is absolutely no evidence that links your statement to people avoiding Victoria as a "cesspool" whatever it is that you are trying to imply.

 

Hotel occupancy is down in Victoria because international borders are closed and business travel is next to non-existent. BC & Canadian travelers are choosing less populated regional destinations. The Okanagan and mid-Island, Revelstoke, etc. Nanaimo is getting quite a bit of spill over from travellers going to Tofino, Qualicum & Parksville that aren't able to get a room for their full stay. Vancouver's occupancy is even worse than Victoria. Yet has has historically always been robust despite the city's much larger homeless problem than Victoria. There's simply no correlation.

[aastra]

We should probably mention the obvious, that if Vancouver Island residents were limiting themselves to Vancouver Island destinations then the smaller number of hotels and rental properties up island would be able to draw from the larger population in Greater Victoria. On the other hand, the larger number of hotels and rental properties in Victoria would have to draw from the smaller population up island.

[Victoria Watcher]

^ ^ per capita Victoria has a much larger homeless population than Vancouver.

[Mike K.]

We should probably mention the obvious, that if Vancouver Island residents were limiting themselves to Vancouver Island destinations then the smaller number of hotels and rental properties up island would be able to draw from the larger population in Greater Victoria. On the other hand, the larger number of hotels and rental properties in Victoria would have to draw from the smaller population up island.

The population north of Victoria is equal to if not a bit larger than the Capital Region.

[vortoozo]

^ ^ per capita Victoria has a much larger homeless population than Vancouver.

 

There is still no correlation between number of homeless people and hotel occupancy.

[Nparker]

There is still no correlation between number of homeless people and hotel occupancy.

Evidence please.

[vortoozo]

Evidence please.

 

The claim is that Victoria's "cesspool" caused a drop in hotel occupancy. That's the evidence that needs to be provided.

[spanky123]

The claim is that Victoria's "cesspool" caused a drop in hotel occupancy. That's the evidence that needs to be provided.

The claim was that my earlier anecdotal information that tourism was strong up island was refuted. That has now been validated.

Most people I am seeing in Nanaimo, Parksville and the west coast are from the mainland and Alberta. I am sure that there are lots of locals camping but that does not figure into hotel occupancy.

My point is that the claim that homelessness, lack of tourists and crime are happening elsewhere to the same scale is nonsense. We have manufactured issues which are having manufactured repercussions.

[Mike K.]

Do we know, vortoozo, what the split is between government and conference-related hotel stays compared to tourism stays?

[Danma]

I can attest that out on the west coast (Tofino and Ucluelet) things are as busy as ever. Ukee was very busy over the weekend and based on how packed the beaches were we didn't even bother with Tofino.

[Love the rock]

There is still no correlation between number of homeless people and hotel occupancy.

Sure there is who do you think is living in all the hotels  . Homeless 

Edited by Love the rock, 09 September 2020 - 12:42 PM.

[Mike K.]

There is still no correlation between number of homeless people and hotel occupancy.

Wasn’t that a contentious issue several years ago, when a major conference cancelled its plans for Victoria due to the deteriorating situation downtown? Things have only gotten worse since.

If Victoria hotel occupancy rates are low, one can’t help but consider it an indictment of the current social policies of mayor and council. And word has spread far and wide of Victoria’s problems, clearly. Otherwise why would the occupancy rates be so dismal while the rest of the Island is having a banner year?

Or is what we’re seeing, is the fact that tourists don’t actually represent a high volume of hotel occupants in the summer, but government workers and conference attendees do? After all, it’s not a secret that a significant volume of tourists to Victoria are day trippers and cruise ship passengers.

[Mike K.]

Sure there is who do you think is living in all the hotels . Homeless

Right. That’s an occupancy rate with many hundreds of rooms take off the market that would have been on the market last year. About 150 at the Comfort Inn alone. And for all we know, the motels that are leased to the province might be counted as active hotel inventory. Lots of questions here, for sure.

[Victoria Watcher]

i think we have an unusually high number of non-canadian hotel guests normally.  the clipper and other tour operators bring them in by the boat and busload in normal times.

[Mike K.]

Ah, found it. MoCA test passed.

There is still no correlation between number of homeless people and hotel occupancy.

Back in 2006 Frank Bourree said there was:

The Empress hotel lost a $200,000 conference in July because the U.S. delegates thought Victoria had too many panhandlers and "cheap souvenir shops."

And local tourism expert Frank Bourree is glad someone has called Victoria on an issue he said is bad for tourism and getting worse.

"Panhandling is an issue for tourists, it's an issue for locals, and it's an issue for social service agencies and the city. The reality is they are there, and it does have an impact," Bourree said Thursday after hearing of the cancellation.

A Washington, D.C.-based company booked a four-day conference last summer for this July. But a company conference organizer returned to Victoria in February and didn't like what he found. In a letter to The Empress, he wrote that the hotel facilities were fine, but he was disappointed in the city.

"It was full of cheap souvenir shops and countless homeless people hounding us for money. It was not relaxing and enjoyable but rather quite uncomfortable. It reminded me of the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver rather than a world-class city," the organizer wrote to Empress general manager Roger Soane.

- https://vibrantvicto...s-a-conference/

[Mike K.]

I’m afraid to say we’ve slid so much further since 2006, that you can bet your house on the fact that if street issues were a problem then, they are significantly more problematic now.

Meanwhile VicPD is responding to Fort at Blanshard where a pedestrian was just spat on, and around the corner from there where a man just tried to steal a phone from the Douglas CIBC and took a swing at the manager who tried to stop the theft.

Lovely.