WHITEFISH – With an eye toward promoting recreational and medical tourism in the region, Flathead Valley business leaders traveled to Canada last week to foster a stronger partnership with their neighbors to the north.
U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, who organized the economic trade mission, said its impetus was to build on Montana’s existing trade relationship with Canada by reaching out to industry officials and meeting in real time. Baucus said he expects the trade mission and others like it will bring more nonresident buyers into the state, as well as create new jobs and boost business opportunities.
“Helping businesses create jobs is our top priority, and I plan to come at it from every angle. That means stepping outside the box, and in this case outside the border, to find every opportunity we can to support Montana employers,” Baucus said.
The trip included 20 representatives from 14 Montana businesses and organizations from across the state, ranging from manufacturing and development to communications and tourism.
Trade with Canada supports employment for 28,156 Montana residents annually, accounting for 4.3 percent of overall employment in the state.
The Flathead Valley was represented by local leaders from the tourism and medical communities. A quick glance at recent annual statistics compiled by the University of Montana’s Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research and the U.S. Department of Commerce explains why.
A strong Canadian dollar has lured more tourists from the north in recent years, and in 2009 the state tallied 583,300 Canadian visits to Montana, with Canadians spending $150 million. The same year, just 94,800 Montanans visited Canada, spending $33 million.
In 2010, nonresident travelers spent $232 million while visiting Flathead County, and Jan Metzmaker, director of the Whitefish Convention and Visitor Bureau, said she was pleased the tourism industry was well represented on last week’s trade mission.
“We were just happy that tourism was included because generally we are like the Rodney Dangerfield of the business world: We get no respect,” said Metzmaker, who was among the local residents on last week’s trip. “But right now, it really is the backbone of small businesses in the Flathead.”
Economists say tourism and retail buoyed the Flathead Valley through its recession. With the housing and timber industries still reeling, the region has remained solvent by falling back on its traditional components of growth-nonresident travel, education, medicine and recreation. The future of its economy will likely depend on successfully selling its views and lifestyle.
“I felt very fortunate that Senator Baucus recognized the importance of tourism in the Flathead Valley as one of our leading economic drivers,” Diane Medler, director of the Kalispell Convention and Visitor Bureau, said.
Last year, nonresident travelers accounted for 20 percent of the basic labor income in Flathead County, and some lodges and restaurants report that 30 percent of their business is from Canadian dollars.
Flathead County is also seeing an uptick in the number of Canadian patients visiting the region’s two hospitals – North Valley Hospital in Whitefish and Kalispell Regional Medical Center.
Although Canada provides universal access to health care for its citizens, many non-emergency procedures have lengthy wait periods. The nearby hospitals – both less than two hours from the border – appeal to Canadians who don’t want to wait for those elective procedures, and so they are traveling across the border in increasing numbers to the Flathead Valley.
Called medical tourism, the rapidly growing practice has put the hospitals in a good position to cater to Canadians, said Jim Oliverson, spokesman at Kalispell Regional Medical Center.
“We take care of a lot of Canadian patients, especially in the summer when they have health problems on their vacation,” he said. “But many of them come to us for major procedures because they prefer the care they get here in the states compared to back home where they have to wait.”
Catherine Todd, marketing director at North Valley Hospital, said orthopedic operations are increasingly popular with Canadian patients who don’t want to endure a painful wait before having their surgeries at home.
“They might need a total hip or knee replacement, and they don’t want to wait for the procedure because they are in pain,” said Todd, who was on the trade mission. “We help them speed through the procedure and get them home for continued care.”
