PORT ANGELES — The signs began going up in downtown store windows about a couple weeks ago, just as the value of the Canadian loonie approached that of the American greenback.
They read “Canadian currency accepted here at par” and feature a graphic of the Canadian flag.
“[The Port Angeles Downtown Association] watches the currency market, and our board of directors recommended to members three weeks ago that it would be to their advantage to jump on board,” said Terry Roth, general manager of Northwest Duty Free Stores.
About 25 of the signs prominently featuring Canada’s red maple leaf have gone up so far, he said.
The Canadian dollar — nicknamed “loonie” because of the loon depicted on the dollar coin — was valued at 94.97 cents to the U.S. dollar on Thursday afternoon.
The duty-free limit also was doubled in March.
So now Canadians can take goods worth $400 Cdn. back with them.
“It seems to be working fairly well,” Roth said.
“I can’t attribute the increased business totally to the exchange rate, but since I operate a duty free store, I have to ask if customers are Canadian.
“Our Canadian purchases are up significantly,” he said.
One notable example was a Canadian who bought a riding lawnmower at Sunset Wire and Rope, then drove it onto the MV Coho ferry, Roth said.
“Even with paying duty, he saved $1,000,” he said.
Roth said as part of the “at par” program, merchants can bundle their Canadian currency and send it to him for a 1-to-1 exchange for U.S. dollars.
Edna Petersen, owner of Necessities and Temptations, said she always has taken Canadian, but enjoys taking it at par now.
There’s probably some increase in Canadian customers but Peterson, also a Port Angeles city councilwoman, would venture a percentage.
Here to shop
“I will say this though,” she said.
“Two women walked in off the ferry and said flatly, ‘We’re here to shop.’”
The stronger loonie also seems to have increased business from Americans as well, Petersen said.
“Americans aren’t rushing over to buy in Canada, either,” she said.
“They don’t assume they are going to get it cheaper in Canada.”
The stronger loonie “has changed everything,” said Petersen.
“Hotel rooms are the same now. There’s no longer a 30 percent discount,” she said, recalling the exchange rate four years ago when the loonie was worth about 70 cents American.
Fraya Johnson from Blue Dolphin Unlimited, which also sports one of the maple leaf signs in its window, said employees have noticed an increase in Canadian customers.
“You know, we have in the last couple months,” she said.
More travel
Canadian travel to the U.S. has grown 23 percent since the loonie was worth 62 cents in the United States in the late 1990s, according to data published by the Commerce Department.
The number of overnight trips by Canadians to the U.S. has been growing steadily since April 2003, when travel slowed because of concerns over the war in Iraq and the SARS scare, according to Statistics Canada.
In January, the number of overnight trips from Canada to the United States was the highest in more than 13 years.
New York is the most popular destination for Canadians, followed by Florida and Washington state.
The Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce sets its budget a year in advance, so it can’t react quickly to these kinds of events, said Executive Director Russ Veenema.
But the number of visits to the Chamber of Commerce’s Web site has increased by as much as 20 percent a month compared to last year, he said.
“One of the things [tourists] do first is visit the chamber’s Web site,” Veenema said.
“So by us having a current site that shows events and lodging, we are responding to that market by having the tourist information available.”
Lodging tax increases
Another potential indicator of increased Canadian tourism is that the city’s lodging taxes — paid by visitors to the city’s motels, hotels, bed and breakfast inns and other lodging establishments — have increased 8 percent over last year, he said.
Port Angeles Downtown Association president Kevin Thompson said the business group is doing everything it can to promote businesses’ acceptance of Canadian currency.
Some businesses also are putting out Canadian flags in addition to the currency signs, said Thompson, who sports a maple leaf sign on the wall behind his shoe store’s cash register.
Port Angeles Business Association president Don Madison said that group is forming a committee that includes the chamber and downtown association to brainstorm ways to attract more Canadian tourists.
The last time the currency of the world’s eight-largest economy traded at par with that of its southern neighbor was November 1976, when Jimmy Carter was elected president.
The loonie had dropped to a historic low of 61.76 cents against the greenback as recently as Jan. 21, 2002.
It began rebounding because of increasing prices for oil and other commodities and increasing Canadian interest rates that attracted investment.
In sharp contrast to the United States, Canada also has amassed federal budget surpluses of more than $80 billion during the past decade.
View from Victoria
The increased flow of Canadians from Victoria to Port Angeles has been detected on the north side of the Strait, too.
“Canadians are traveling across the Strait of Juan de Fuca in greater numbers than they ever have before,” said Lorne Whyte, president of Tourism Victoria.
“The MV Coho’s Canadian business is doing extremely well. The Coho is cheaper than B.C. Ferries, and then people can travel to Washington, Oregon, California,” he said.
Ryan Burles, MV Coho’s district manager in Victoria, confirmed that assessment.
“We are up, which is not surprising,” he said.
“It’s good for Port Angeles. The strong dollar and our reservation system helped.”
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at 360-417-3532 or brian.gawley@peninsuladailynews.com.
