As the fall shoulder season arrives, windows of storefronts across downtown Kalispell are adorned with signs showing a red heart with a white maple leaf in the center.
“Historic Downtown Kalispell Loves Our Canadian Visitors,” the signs read.
Indeed, Kalispell and the rest of Flathead Valley adore the neighbors to the north. Almost 30 percent of business in the valley comes from Canadian visitors, estimates Diane Medler, director of the Kalispell Convention and Visitors Bureau. According to Montana Sen. Max Baucus’ office, more than 28,000 jobs in Montana depend on trade with Canada. In 2009, more than half a million Canadians visited and spent roughly $150 million.
“Canadians are a very big chunk of our business overall,” Whitefish Mountain Resort spokeswoman Riley Polumbus said. “It’s good for the whole community because they do spend money, not just on the mountain but around town shopping. From what I’ve learned since I got here, they definitely make a trip out of it.”
Last week, a group of local and state representatives traveled north for a trade trip organized by Baucus and aimed at nourishing that relationship.
The three-day event in Alberta brought together members from Canadian and Montana businesses and organizations, including the visitor bureaus in Kalispell and Whitefish, Kalispell Regional Medical Center and North Valley Hospital.
Realizing trade is a two-way street, the trip’s main goal was bridging the border economically and generating new jobs and business for both Montana and Canada.
“Tourism is a very reciprocal industry. We framed our discussions on how can we partner and work together,” Medler, who made the trip, said.
Tourism continues to be a major foundation of the state’s economy and Medler believes there are more opportunities to build on that. Last year, tourism revenues totaled $1.8 billion, according to the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. The same report states 9 million people visited the state last year, which equates to roughly 10 tourists for every one resident.
“Trade missions like this one give Montanans the chance to meet face-to-face with new partners and tap into even more tourism dollars,” Baucus said in an email to the Beacon. “The good news is, once we get folks here, the Last Best Place sells itself, and folks will bring their families, friends and cash back to Montana again and again.”
Baucus said he plans to follow up with a future trip that would bring Canadian businesses and organizations to Montana for a similar gathering.
On the heels of the recent trade trip, the newly formed local Canadian Marketing Committee is distributing surveys to area businesses asking about advertising strategies. Some of the questions include “Have you advertised in Canada during the past year?” and “Would you be willing to allocate some of your marketing dollars to be part of a cooperative targeted Canadian campaign?”
The survey is the latest step toward building a better communal plan of exposure up north, a goal established at a seminar last spring at Flathead Valley Community College.
Another step being taken is creating a local Tradeshow/Roadshow Committee that will pool together businesses for a future trip to showcase what this part of the state has to offer.
On the trade trip, “we talked about ways we can distribute our visitor info up there in Calgary,” Medler said.
Bringing revenue south wasn’t the lone mission of the recent trade trip. Canada remains the state’s largest market, receiving 36 percent of the total merchandise exports and roughly 45 percent of the agriculture exports. In fact, the state exports more overall to Canada than the next eight countries combined. In 2009, that totaled $440 million.
“It’s a two-way street,” Anthony Rodriguez, project coordinator for the state’s World Trade Center in Missoula, said of the Canada-Montana business relationship.
“Canadian businesses and tourists come to Montana whether they’re doing business or here on vacation … Similarly, Montanans do business with a lot of Canadian firms. It benefits both sides.”
Rodriguez said the importance of a trip like the recent one in Alberta is that it follows the simple model of any healthy business relationship.
“It’s important to meet so you can engage in a dialogue and raise the awareness of the other party of what’s going on and evaluate what the opportunities look like. Then you can begin to strategize about the best ways to work together,” he said.
Medler saw the benefits first-hand, and came home feeling good about how the valley has positioned itself for the future.
“This trade mission was a great beginning and launching point,” she said. “We made some really good contacts and had some good conversations that we will continue to brainstorm about.”