Victoria Tourism Bulletin May 2020
The global pandemic continues to seriously impact the tourism industry all over the world, and Victoria is no exception. Even with restrictions loosening, the best we can expect is local visitation this summer.
The global pandemic continues to seriously impact the tourism industry all over the world, and Victoria is no exception. Even with restrictions loosening, the best we can expect is local visitation this summer.
As expected, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a drastic impact on tourism industry performance in Victoria and the April data shows just how significant.
Many local properties closed their doors in mid to late March. We have reported the month’s performance based on actual availability. The next Bulletin will be published with aggregate numbers for the second quarter of the year.
Given the current circumstances, it is bittersweet to review the February tourism data which shows a very strong month of performance. We will continue to collect the monthly data moving forward, although will most likely switch to a quarterly report format.
While rate held strong this January compared to last, occupancy and RevPAR both had a significant reduction. Ferry and airport traffic were also down over last year.
December continued the trend we have seen in the past few months with a drop in occupancy and RevPAR combined with growth in ADR. Overall, the tourism sector had a strong year, if somewhat down from 2018’s results.
The Greater Victoria Sports Tourism Commission was pleased to welcome the NCAA Victoria International Women’s Basketball Tournament at the University of Victoria November 28-20th.
Victoria will be hosting the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament June 23-28, 2020. This event is expected to garner world-wide positive media attention and generate at least ,800 contracted room nights.
Q4 business at the Victoria Conference Centre is strong, and 2020 will be even stronger with up to 39 citywide conferences for an estimated 122,000 or more delegate days. This exceeds their record of 33 citywide conferences in 2018.