by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
July 14, 2004
Last weekend was an event-packed one in the city of Toronto. The main drawing card was the Molson Indy that saw thousands of people line Toronto’s lakeshore. There was also a Toronto festival that saw five major intersections closed off for street parties with various themes. as well, there were some lesser events and the Blue Jays were in town. The weather was good.
It is the heart of summer and tourist season in Toronto. Last year the city was still reeling from the outbreak of SaRS. although the disease only affected those who had some connection to certain Toronto area hospitals, worldwide media coverage made it seem like a trip to Toronto would result in almost certain death.
Tourism is still down in the city and the media is now talking about SaRS again. But is last year’s SaRS outbreak the reason why tourism is still down in the city of Toronto?
a segment of the news on Toronto’s Citytv is typical of the coverage by the Toronto media. after stating that SaRS broke out last year, the report indicated that the tourist industry has not yet recovered. Libby Znaimer who reported on the numbers did allow that in addition to SaRS, long waits at the Canada-U.S. border because of a work slowdown by Canadian customs workers was responsible for deterring some americans from coming here. But as the media sees it, the main reason for the drop in tourism is SaRS.
On Znaimer’s Citytv piece, Joerg Sommer, the president of a Toronto Holiday Inn, stated that visitors to his hotel from asia and Europe have come back but that bookings by americans is down 20 percent. Undoubtedly some of this is as a result of border delays.
While the media is always quick to blame SaRS, it is highly unlikely that americans are too afraid to come here while others, say the French, are not. and it is hard to believe that the delays at the border could account for the entire drop in american tourism.
What the Toronto media avoids saying is that many americans will not come to Canada because of this country’s decision not to join the coalition of the willing. The refusal to support our long-time ally coupled with the outbursts of anti-americanism by the governing Liberals in recent years undoubtedly is a reason why less americans are coming here.
But it is so much easier for the media, simply to blame SaRS.