3/18/2009 by Richard Thomas

Two years ago the state of Wisconsin extended the anterless deer hunting season into mid-December. Snowmobile groups objected, given that snowmobile clubs were not about to open trails until bullets stop flying.

The Wisconsin Deer Hunters Association issued a flier screaming, “Attention Deer Hunters– Your Hunting Season is Under Attack.” The flier urged landowners, “Close your land to snowmobile use!”

The December hunting season stayed and so far it’s worked out smoothly, according to Robert Manwell, natural resources educator for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). “The concern hasn’t proven a reality,” he said.

Not so, says Robert Walesewicz, owner of the Cary Mine Convenience store in Hurley. Representing the Hurley Area Chamber of Commerce, he urged the Iron County Board on Feb. 24 to formally request the state to work out a better hunting arrangement.

“Most businesses have felt a negative impact,” he said in a subsequent interview. “We’re already being attacked with a poor economy.”

Iron County is in a unique position. It gets snow earlier than the rest of the state and snowmobilers flock there in early December. The tourism sector wants business from hunters too, but comparatively few trickle in by then.

Meanwhile some hunting groups want the DNR to extend the muzzle-loader season to the end of December, raising further alarm.

“Most resorts say Christmas is their biggest week. If they lose Christmas it’s like losing the whole season,” said Bill Schumann, president of the Association of Wisconsin Snowmobile Clubs.

Across the border in Minnesota, resort owners are fending off another perceived threat: shorter summer vacations.

Since 1985 the Minnesota Legislature has flip-flopped several times between forbidding and allowing schools to open before Labor Day.

Minnesota resort owners and state fair entrepreneurs support the later opening to extend the vacation season.

But educators argue school districts need autonomy to decide for themselves when to open, and a late start pushes the school year further into June, when students get restless and most buildings aren’t air-conditioned.

The issue has cropped up again in the 2009 legislative session with two bills repealing the mandatory post-Labor Day opening. House File 194 completely repeals the rule while HF 195 repeals it for only two years, so the impact on resorts can be studied.

The two-year bill passed House committees in late February and was awaiting a hearing on the House floor. Companion Senate File 22 was still before the Senate education committee.

Its author, state Sen. Charles Wiger, DFL-North St. Paul, said his bill is overshadowed by the Legislature’s No. 1 priority, filling a projected $5-7 billion-plus budget hole. “That doesn’t help its chances,” he said.

While nervous about the economy, the region’s hospitality industry generally reports it is doing surprisingly well— at the moment.

In Northern Minnesota

Iron Range hotels are coming off a record 2008. One indicator: they collected nearly $311,000 in lodging taxes compared to $297,500 in 2007.

A strong 2007-08 winter season and construction of the Taconite Ridge Wind Farm near Mountain Iron helped fill hotels. While November-December 2008 was down from the year-earlier period, January and February business were steady going into March, usually the strongest winter season, said Cheyenne Denny, executive director of the Iron Range Tourism Board.

“I think it will be a fairly strong summer,” said Cherie Zeppelin of Visit Grand Rapids. Some area resorts are building new cabins and already have rented them out, she said. “We’re the low cost alternative for travel, so we’ll be doing okay.”

Lodging tax receipts along Minnesota’s North Shore showed mixed results in 2008 compared to 2007: up 5.5 percent in Grand Marais; up 2.4 percent along the Gunflint Trail; and flat in the Lutsen-Tofte-Schroeder area.

“If we can hold our own we’re doing very well in the current economy,” said Sally Nankivell, executive director of the Lusten-Tofte Tourism Association. “We are seeing a number of people rediscovering this area as an affordable vacation.”

“We’ve been in a recession for a year,” said Diane Brostrom of the Grand Marais Area Tourism Association. “Our research tells us that now more than ever people are looking for a break from the stress. They want to spend time with their families rather than go to the malls and the amusement parks. We’re fitting in with what they need at this time.”

In Duluth, double digit growth of the past couple of years has disappeared, according to the city treasurer’s report on tourism taxes.

Still there was modest growth in 2008 with the city’s hotel/motel and food/beverage sales taxes rising 3.4 percent over 2007, surpassing budget expectations.

Hotel tax revenue fell more than 7 percent in December from a year earlier. But the treasurer’s report notes the December 2007 figure was inflated by a late return in November 2007. “December comparisons would have been flat without this aberration,” it notes.

Despite the lackluster 2008 results, “we’re still in a lot better shape than other places,” said Visit Duluth spokesman Gene Shaw.

The number of Duluth hotel rooms rented in the first 11 months last year was 1.6 percent below the year-earlier period, said Pat Simmons, research analyst for Explore Minnesota, the state tourism bureau. This compares with a 0.6 percent increase for the “Minnesota north area” and a 1.8 percent decline statewide.

Despite the decline in occupancy last year, Duluth’s lodging revenue in the January-November 2008 period was unchanged from 2007, while revenue grew 2.3 percent in Minnesota overall, Simmons said.

Lodging occupancy, revenue and consumer confidence likely won’t rebound at least until 2010, said John Edman, director of Explore Minnesota, adding “2009 will be a year unlike any other.”

In Northwest Wisconsin

Heartwood Conference Center near Trego registered a “double digit” increase in business last year, said Dana Morlock, sales manager, including a year-over-year increase in late 2008. Despite the gloomy economic talk, the resort decided against tightening its 2009 budget projections. Construction is underway on a new 20-room hotel wing to open in July.

Heartwood has gained Twin Cities business as tourists and businesses alike seek closer to home destinations, she said.

Morlock also noted a dramatic shortening in the booking window, as more people and companies make reservations with less lead time — to a month or less ahead rather than three to four months. “I think a lot of people want to see how their budget is looking,” she said.

Travelers are planning shorter vacations closer to home, shopping for less expensive items and dining out for lunch more often than dinner, visitor bureau officials report.

In 2008 “Everyone was down across the board,” said Mary D. Motiff, Bayfield County tourism director. Early summer bad weather, high gas prices, and the fall economic collapse made travelers and businesses more conservative, she said.

“People are traveling less but they’re still coming here because it’s their favorite destination, which is heartening,” she said. “Of course, tourism businesses often times are affected by the weather more than anything else, so let’s all hope that Mother Nature smiles upon us.”

Bayfield County plans to focus its marketing more regionally, within a three-to-four hour drive.

The city of Hayward collected $130,349 in room tax in 2008, well below the previous year’s record of nearly $140,000. But 2007 was much higher than any other years because of pipeline construction, said Lucy Guenther, Hayward clerk treasurer, noting 2008 far surpassed the $122,305 collected in 2006, a record at the time.

Countering the slowdown

Business groups are responding with new events to counter the slowdown. This year will see the first Hayward 300 snowmobile races March 6-8, and a new all-terrain vehicle competition in September. Hayward also will host the governor’s fishing opener.

Darrell Buchmann, general manager at Telemark Resort in Cable, said it “pretty well hit” its 2008 goal for group and business segments. Guest count was 6 percent below that goal, but not for reasons related to the economy. Just one party had fewer guests than expected, he said, adding “2009 is looking good.”

A four-day logging and timber industry event was cancelled, as the sponsor decided instead to host several one-day seminars around the state. “But just as our tears were drying an even bigger event came along,” he said, booked by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“Transient” tourist business was hurt by high gas prices in 2008, but that market rebounded when gas prices dropped, he said.

The resort got a huge bump from the annual American Birkebeiner ski races in late February that brings 15,000-20,000 visitors annually through Telemark’s property.

State welcome centers in Wisconsin are slated to shut down in April. One reason is budget cuts. Another is that people are getting their tourism information from the Internet.

The Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center on U.S. 2 near Ashland will stay open as it’s a partnership of seven federal agencies, not a state operation.

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