Sun Peaks mayor and Nancy Green’s Cahilty Lodge co-owner Al Raine has joined the chorus of tourism industry insiders urging the federal government to reduce fees on air travellers.
The fees make travelling to B.C. more expensive than competing tourist destinations.
“What are the Aussies going to say?” Raine asked. “I love B.C. so much that I’m willing to pay thousands of dollars more to fly all family members to B.C. instead of to Denver, Colorado?”
He told Business in Vancouver the Canadian government charges fees that far exceed those in the U.S.
The Canadian government is one of the few in the world to charge ground rent to the country’s major airports, for example, according to a Surrey Board of Trade (SBOT) report earlier this year.
Vancouver International Airport paid Ottawa $38.8 million in rent in 2010, according to its annual report. The SBOT wants Ottawa to eliminate airport rents by 2016 and reduce fees charged on airlines and airports. Raine thinks that’s a great idea.
One advantage that YVR has over the Denver International Airport is direct flights to Sydney. When one stopover is included in the flights, the price to fly to either Vancouver or Denver from Sydney is similar.
Between January 18 and January 28, for example, the price to fly from Vancouver to Sydney with one stopover is $1,878. That compares with $1,799 to fly to Sydney from Denver with one stopover.
Glen Korstrom
@GlenKorstrom