Arctic Lodges, a popular fly-in fishing outfit in northern Saskatchewan, will end its season early due to COVID-19. (Submitted photo/Arctic Lodges Facebook)

By Teena Monteleone

Huge Economic Loss

U.S. border restrictions causing devastating impact on northern outfitters

Jul 9, 2020 | 2:00 PM

In what would have been their 70^th year of operation, a popular outfitter in northern Saskatchewan has decided to end its season early.

Arctic Lodges at Reindeer Lake, known as one of the pioneers in the Canadian fly-in fishing industry, is usually sold out the entire season. But with Americans making up 70 per cent of their clientele and the ongoing border restrictions due to COVID-19, operator Andrea Littlechilds said there is just too much risk in staying open. After guiding about half a dozen trips for Canadian customers, they’ll close up camp July 10.

“We think its unlikely the border will reopen and even if it did, there are so many layers of difficulty to get through,” Littlechilds said. “And, a lot of our guides who are First Nation are worried. They don’t want to bring anything back to their small communities.”

The outfitter owns a private airstrip and usually flies in guests out of Saskatoon. They had to cancel their charters because they couldn’t get enough people out to make it economical to fly. Business is down about 90 per cent.

“We didn’t think we’d have any guests, so even just to have a month of guests and give our employees a bit of work, we were happy to do that. But a lot of lodges up here made the decision not to even open at all.”

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Industry impact

The outfitting industry represents $130 million in net contribution to the provincial GDP and employs more than 4,000 people each year. Roy Anderson, acting CEO of the Saskatchewan Commission of Professional Outfitters (SCPO) said the investment made by outfitters in their communities and regional economies is significant.

“Another month or so of border restrictions will bring another wave of lost sales revenue,” Anderson said. “The impact on that from an economic stance, not only on small rural communities, but specifically in the north, is huge. The loss of those sales revenues reaches into the local economies.”

When the SCPO surveyed its members at the beginning of the pandemic, about half of them said they had no plans to open their camps at all in 2020. Anderson estimates more than $100 million in lost sales revenue so far.

“As we see the potential for that restriction on nonessential travel to advance further, we’ll get into the game bird season and fall and winter season for outfitters which represents another 50 or 60 per cent of the annual revenue generated each year by outfitters. It will be devastating if we get ourselves into that position and Americans who have already booked trips here aren’t able to get across the border,” Anderson said.

Some outfitters are staying afloat thanks to an influx of Saskatchewan or Canadian tourists looking for vacation opportunities closer to home and while that gives them a chance to generate some sales revenue, Anderson said it by no means paints a very positive picture for the sector overall. He said any discussions by the federal government and Destination Canada about a ‘pivot strategy’ to focus on the domestic market will help many segments of the tourism industry, but it won’t provide relief for outfitters. He said, for example, with the accessibility to hunting and fishing in the province, Saskatchewan residents don’t necessarily need an outfitter to do either.

“The reality is the majority of business generated comes from the U.S. market because it’s a destination trip for people who are avid hunters and don’t have the opportunity to do that in the state they live in,” Anderson said. “There’s no substitute market for our sector of the tourism industry here. So, if the American border remains closed, there is no sales relief for the outfitting sector.”

Trying to stay afloat

Some smaller operations like Morton Harbicht’s Boreal Camps just north of La Ronge, will try make the best of what’s left of the season. Without guides and chefs, his camp has few overhead costs, so it makes economic sense to stay open and fill vacancies with Canadian customers. Without the American clientele he figures his business is down more than $50,000. Even with the likelihood of more financial loss for his outfitting company, he doesn’t know whether he wants to see the borders open.

“It’s a matter of safety. Most of our customers come from the northern states and those are sparsely populated like here. They don’t have the problems like Florida and Texas, but at the same time, they can’t open for just a certain state,” Harbicht said.

“I mean, we understand – health and safety is more important than anything else.”

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teena.monteleone@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TeenaMonteleone