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By Caden Fanshaw

COVID-19

Prince George hospitality sector one of the best in BC during pandemic

Feb 15, 2022 | 5:30 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – As many places across BC struggled with little to no tourism activity to fill hotels throughout the pandemic, Prince George did not.

“One of those big reasons why it wasn’t down as bad as other communities and maybe as bad as we were initially expecting was due to the resource industry that was really helping keep people in those hotel rooms,” said Colin Carson, CEO of Tourism PG.

The Economic Development department at the City of Prince George said our success in this category is essentially “unheard of”

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According to Tourism PG, although occupancy was roughly 8% below normal in 2021, those numbers outpace others by a considerable amount.

Prior to the pandemic in 2019, Tourism PG collected $1.2 million in hotel tax-related revenue used to fund the operation, in 2021 the organization is projecting a total of approximately $1.3 million.

Jamie Valcourt, General Manager of Courtyard by Marriott downtown Prince George said aside from the resource economy driving the industry, more regional travellers have also helped fill rooms on weekends.

“There’s a lot of construction going on, with oil and gas, the forestry industry,” said Valcourt. “You don’t really think about tourists as industrial, commercial tourists but there are so many workers around Prince George that are industrial tourists.”

Without major events happening throughout much of the pandemic, the normal tourist traffic went with it.

With COVID-19 restrictions now lifted in BC to allow more events, conferences, and conventions, businesses will get a big boost from banquet and meeting rooms which sat mostly empty for some time.

Combine that added business with the already existing stays from the natural resource economy and the hospitality sector is believed to be on a fast track to success