Are tourists being left with a bad taste?

When a Boston TV crew had $60,000 worth of camera equipment stolen from a parked van in Kitsilano last week, it became an international story that made even the most optimistic Vancouver boosters cringe.

"Vancouver 'charm' a real steal," screamed one Boston Herald headline this week, as its story declared Vancouver "may not be such a nice place to live after all."

The Wikitravel online travel guide says Vancouver is a "very safe city," but warns visitors to be aware that some areas have high property crime rates.

"Theft from vehicles is especially problematic," the travel guide states.

Vancouver crime issues -- especially theft and panhandling -- are just some of the major challenges facing B.C.'s tourism marketers these days as they strive to double industry revenues over the next decade.

High gasoline prices, a strong Canadian dollar, border lineups, airport and cruise ship terminal congestion, and a shortage of Vancouver taxis have all combined to make international visitors think twice before booking B.C. trips.

Tourism Vancouver president Rick Antonson said Vancouver crime stories are especially disappointing.

"It's becoming a big concern for our reputation because we're seen as a safe and secure city destination, one of just two or three in North America," he said. "People simply expect better of Vancouver."

Vancouver police spokesman Const. Tim Fanning doesn't feel tourists are being victimized by thieves any more so than usual, but agrees the problem is "way higher" than it should be.

"Tourists have to be reminded they're coming to a big city with big-city problems," he said. "Criminals will specifically target high-tourist areas, so you have to be careful, and you shouldn't ever leave things in your car."

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts regional vice-president Phil Barnes has grown increasingly frustrated with panhandlers who accost hotel guests. Provincial legislation forbids "aggressive" panhandling, but Barnes feels authorities have done little to deal with the problem.

"We've heard a lot of words, but we haven't seen much action," he said in an interview. "I am now investigating to see what our legal options are."

He noted previous legal action resulted in prostitutes being forced to move their business away from upscale downtown hotels, and wonders if that's an option with panhandlers.

Barnes understands critics will say he just wants to move the problem somewhere else -- a not-in-my-backyard tactic.

"Yes, there are people out there who are mentally ill and need help," he said. "But there are a lot of other people who have just found a good way to make a living at the expense of everyone else. The challenge is to separate the two."

Fanning said city police have handled 91 panhandling complaints so far this year, issuing charges when aggressive panhandlers threaten and frighten people.

"It's not an easy problem to solve because a lot of these people have issues that are beyond the scope of the police," Fanning said. "We do what we can with what we have."

Success in attracting visitors to B.C. has created congestion problems that can turn many tourists off from the region.

Just ask Seattle resident Gene Uttinger, who had to wait 31/2 hours to board the Golden Princess cruise ship at Canada Place in Vancouver earlier this month. He was lucky. Some people had to wait five or six hours as the terminal handled about 8,000 passengers.

"I have a lot of patience, and I always tell people when they travel to pack their patience," he said. "But my patience was very tried that day. It was just mayhem."

Vancouver Port Authority representative Greg Wirtz said a "perfect storm" of events helped create all the chaos that day, something he doubts will be repeated. Three ships arrived at Canada Place, with the two largest vessels arriving about three hours later than normal at 10 a.m.

Wirtz said the late arrivals meant that thousands of passengers who expected to board the ships at 11 a.m. couldn't do so until 2 p.m. -- creating a mass of unhappy, impatient cruise ship customers anxious to start their journey.

The port authority sent letters of apology to passengers following the incident, and promises to review procedures with cruise lines and customs officials to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Uttinger hopes to sail from Vancouver again in a few years.

"Hopefully things like this can all get straightened out," he said. "I love Vancouver, but it certainly left a bad taste."

Congestion also remains a huge issue at Canada-U.S. border crossings, with two-hour and three-hour waits common during peak periods -- especially holiday weekends.

Antonson expects Vancouver will enjoy a surge in U.S. visitors this weekend as they take advantage of their Memorial Day weekend. But he knows many will be turned off by border lineups.

"Some foreign visitors don't mind so much because it's a one-time experience for them," he said. "But repeat travellers from the U.S. get very frustrated whether they come up for skiing or for a summer weekend. It becomes a factor in whether or not they come up [at all]."

Antonson said infrastructure improvements will help speed border crossings, but he feels greater use of the NEXUS system -- which expedites the border-crossing process for low-risk, pre-approved travelers -- and technological advances like iris-scanning identification will speed things up for everyone.

"That is the future, but it's going to take a number of years," he said.

And Canada doesn't offer quite the same value to U.S. visitors that it did as recently as last summer, with the dollar trading above 92 cents US and gasoline prices more than a third higher than U.S. prices.

Antonson said fuel prices might affect some Americans thinking of long-driving holidays in Canada, but doubts the impact will be significant. The higher dollar, however, has forced Canadian tourism marketers to change their U.S. advertising campaigns.

"We still offer good value, but we can no longer stress the affordability and value proposition to the extent we used to," Antonson said.

Tourists who have waited hours for taxis in Vancouver, sometimes at cruise ship terminals, know all about the city's taxi shortage, and industry officials are anxiously awaiting the Passenger Transportation Board's approval of 111 new Vancouver taxi licences. That would boost the number of city taxis by 23 per cent to 588.

"We're a little frustrated now because we want to get these vehicles out there as fast as we can so we can alleviate a lot of problems," Vancouver Taxi Association executive director Tony Bhullar said in an interview.

Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon has proposed a passenger bill of rights to hold cabbies to account when they refuse fares, provide poor service, or reject credit cards and demand payment in cash.

He said a bill of rights will be posted in every cab with a number that passengers can call to trigger an investigation by the passenger and transportation branch that will result in penalties where warranted.

Antonson, who feels Vancouver will need about 750 taxis by 2010, said the industry has shown a strong resolve to improve its service.

"We've seen more commitment by the taxi companies on training and professionalism in the past six months than in the last six years," he said.

Bhullar said taxi officials are embarrassed by past transgressions and want to restore faith in the industry, especially with the 2010 Olympics on the horizon.

Despite the challenges, Antonson said Tourism Vancouver still expects Greater Vancouver will attract more than 8.8 million visitors this year -- a 1.8-per-cent increase over 2006. Visits by Canadians will increase by about three per cent, but U.S. visitation is expected to fall by one per cent.

"Americans are bombarded with advertising that encourages them to travel within the U.S.," Antonson said. "That will change, but we think it will take another couple of years before the trend reverses itself."

Source ref: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=4277f416-2351-4981-985c-8bdf77d2b6c4

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