A new hotel opening since last year has not stopped the city from being consistently booked solid this peak season.
The tourism season is known to peak twice throughout the year – once in August and September, and again in February and March.
Joey Cruze, General Manager at the Days Inn, has seen increases in occupancy over the last few years.
“Tourists have been coming in every year since the ‘90s, so there’s some growth in that sector alone, but in the winter the other driver of occupancy are the winter roads. (This season) is a particularly cold one, that has added to the mix as well, so it’s a little busier than the past two years.
"The town seems to have absorbed the number pretty well."
This time of year has multiple forces at play, which is why rooms are often booked far in advance.
“There's Chinese New Years, the winter road, and the tourists, so a lot of our rooms have been booked since last September-October.”
The addition of a new hotel in town, the Chateau Nova, has not relieved any strain.
Numbers from the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI) indicate that occupancy rates have stayed the same. However, not all hotels – including the Chateau Nova – report their numbers to the ITI.
“Only about 40 per cent of hotel rooms in the city are reporting to us – the Nova is not included in our numbers” said Anne Kokko, a spokesperson for ITI.
Occupancy numbers staying the same with the introduction of a new hotel is a good sign for tourism.
“Our occupancy numbers have stayed the same, which means the overall visitation numbers would’ve gone up significantly” said Kokko.
Last year, occupancy rates stayed at a consistent high going into March. Things calm down going into the “first week of April,”according to Cruze.
Historically, ITI numbers show that occupancy rates stay calm and at around 60 per cent until August, when they jump back up as tourism season swings back around.