Of all the urban areas along the proposed Alto high-speed rail line, Ottawa-Gatineau could see the greatest tourism gain from the project, according to a recent report.
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Of all the urban areas along the proposed Alto high-speed rail line, Ottawa-Gatineau could see the greatest tourism gain from the project, according to a recent report.
The report, prepared by consulting firm CPCS, examined how high-speed rail could impact tourism in major centres along the proposed Alto corridor.
In Ottawa-Gatineau, high-speed rail would lead to significant increases in overnight and same-day travellers, the report found.
“In absolute terms, Toronto and Montreal (census metropolitan areas) contribute the most to tourism-related GDP under all scenarios and experience the highest absolute gains,” the report said. “But relative to their baseline, Ottawa-Gatineau and Québec City may see the largest gains under the high-coordination scenario.”
Currently, the Ottawa-Gatineau region contributes $4.9 billion in tourism spending to Canada’s GDP every year, behind Toronto ($15.8 billion) and Montreal ($8.7 billion). But with high-speed rail, that spending could increase by up to $560 million for the region, the report found.
However, such results would only be possible if local stakeholders capitalize on the new infrastructure.
“A consistent conclusion in the literature is that (high-speed rail) alone is rarely sufficient to generate sustained tourism development,” the report said. “Realized impacts depend on coordinated local strategies that leverage accessibility improvements.”
Those efforts would include destination marketing, event programming and “last-mile” transportation and infrastructure to connect train travellers to accommodations and attractions.
In a “high-coordination” scenario, business and personal spending could increase 13 per cent in Ottawa-Gatineau, along with a four per cent increase in length of stays. In a low-coordination scenario, if shorter stays occur, Ottawa could see a decrease in business spending.
The same is true for smaller municipalities in the surrounding area, the report said.
“The literature also suggests this coordination is especially important if the goal is to distribute benefits beyond the largest cities which are already tourism hubs,” the report said. “Smaller municipalities need to differentiate their tourism offer and coordinate packaging, promotion, and local access around the (high-speed rail) connection or they will limit gains — or even risk losing activity to larger centres.”
Ottawa Tourism told OBJ it was “pleased” to see the potential tourism benefits to the city.
“Ottawa Tourism welcomes Alto’s economic impact report and the contribution it makes to the broader conversation on connectivity and tourism. We are currently taking the time to review the report in detail, in collaboration with partners, including addressing any questions directly with Alto,” it said in an email to OBJ. “We were pleased to see analysis related to tourism impacts, including the role of access to transportation networks as part of the overall approach.”
