Image Credit: Rocky Mountaineer

By Adam Donnelly

BC TOURSIM

Cancellation of 2020 Rocky Mountaineer season yet another blow to Kamloops hospitality sector

Jul 23, 2020 | 3:42 PM

KAMLOOPS — It’s worth more than $50 million to the local economy. However, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rocky Mountaineer made the difficult decision to suspend the remainder of its 2020 season on Wednesday (July 22).

Across the city, hotels aren’t experiencing the usual influx of tourists the summer usually brings. After the suspension announcement by Rocky Mountaineer, local hospitality businesses took another hit.

“It was a tough decision. I don’t think we had much choice in the matter, with everything that’s going on with restrictions on travel,” Steve Sammut, President, and CEO of Rocky Mountaineer says. “Close to 85 per cent of our guests come from international markets.”

2020 would have been a milestone year for Rocky Mountaineer. This summer would have marked the company’s 30th year of operation, a season in which they planned for a record number of guests.

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“We were pretty excited about that,” Sammut tells CFJC Today. “We were looking at surpassing 100,000 [guests] and sales were going very well. We’ve been growing at a nice clip. We’ve bought a lot of new equipment over the past five years — over $200 million — so we can bring more people and showcase Western Canada.”

The cancellation of the season comes as another blow to hotels in the city, who have been struggling amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“From a hospitality perspective, the loss of Rocky Mountaineer means a couple of hundred hotel rooms, every night for six months,” Kamloops Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Acacia Pangilinan explains. “It’s a pretty significant blow to our hospitality industry.”

The rail company employs around 330 full-time employees and creates more than 500 seasonal jobs along its tour routes. According to Sammut, Rocky Mountaineer would have spent $50-to-55 million in Kamloops this season. That number doesn’t include guest spending.

“Kamloops is such an integral part of our operation,” Sammut says. “It’s right in the middle of two of our three routes, and those two are our biggest routes. So about 95 per cent of our guests end up staying in Kamloops as they journey with us.”

Sammut says the company is planning for a regular 2021 season. Rocky Mountaineer intends to honour all previous reservations and is offering 110 per cent credit to passengers who have already paid through the 2022 season.