Strategic Context
Fernie has a long-standing and resilient tourism industry that heavily relies on its natural attractions and quaint appeal for its leisure tourism visitation while benefiting from regular corporate and sport competition travelers.
2023 was Fernie’ s strongest year to date for lodging revenues thanks primarily to continued recovery from COVID19 travel impacts, strong brand and destination awareness and interest, increase in ADR, TC Energy pipeline project, and a full year of capturing VRBO’ s MRDT.
The lodging room units available have increased, but only specific to short-term rentals via AirBnB and VRBO. There are however new accommodation developments starting in 2024-2025 including a condo-hotel( Basecamp) expected to open in 2026 with 80 condo style units, as well as the expansion of the Best Western. This could equate to at least $ 8 million in additional lodging revenues and $ 200,000 in additional MRDT annually based on the size of the property, estimated ADR and occupancy.
The following two pages highlight lodging statistics which articulate revenues, nightly rates, occupancy, and comparisons in both traditional and STRs around Fernie. It should be noted, see next page, that the months representing the highest lodging revenues do not align with the highest lodging occupancy. This brings up a few observations:
- If a month is high in revenue but lower in the order of occupancy, then that month’ s nightly rates are high( higher yield).- These same months provide opportunity to further increase occupancy when nightly rates are high therefore generating more return and MRDT for the community and industry.- On the opposite side if a month’ s occupancy is high, but the revenues are lower than there is an opportunity to increase nightly rates given demand is high. This would generate more return and MRDT for the community and industry.
There is industry optimism and expectation in the continued growth of the tourism industry in Fernie. Years 2022 and 2023 did see many rooms booked by TC Energy pipeline project( May-Sept), but tourism and travel demand is expected to replace those bookings looking forward. Summer travel( May-Sept) growth is expected to add substantially to future revenue growth.
Optimism for the future does come with concerns about weather and climate impacts, and the continued need for infrastructure investment and upgrades. See the key learnings and detailed SWOT analysis starting on page 6.
Tourism Fernie AGM April 2023
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