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Economy, economy, economy. If you’re like me you are probably a little tired of hearing about the economy. You know, the downturn? The collapse? The *gulp* recession. Don’t worry I’m not here to tell you bad things about the economy. I don’t have the degree nor the googling skills. So how about instead I tell y’all about the positive side of the world economic crisis. Yes, I think there will be a positive side. It all has to do with tourism in the north.


(DISCLAIMER: I have not facts to base this on. Simply a big ol “Murder She Wrote” hunch)


Who here thinks the economic situation means bad tourist number in the Yukon next summer. Notice how I didn’t have my hand up. It was a trick question. I think certain aspects of this little crisis we’re having are going to drive people to the north. Here’s how:


1. Lower Canadian Dollar

This does not bode well for my upcoming trip to New York. Our dollar is now only worth 81 cents american. But wait, doesn’t that mean one American dollar is worth $1.23? I think this will draw some of our neighbours to the south up for their holidays. I bet you will see increased traffic of american tourists in Provinces and Territories that border the United States. Ontario, British Columbia, and the Yukon. Alright so there aren’t a whole ton of people in Alaska but this also means that these people can go further with their dollar. Maybe take a longer trip that they couldn’t afford when we were at parity.


2. Gas is Cheaper

Without researching any facts I’m going to say that our main source of tourism in the norht is rubber tire traffic. All those big motor-homes filled with retired Texans. Those things aren’t cheap to fill up. This is the same theory as the cheap dolalr. I think that by having a lower price of gasoline those large motorhomes will be more likely to travel farther than they would when it cost almost a dollar a liter.


3. Sarah Palin

Ok, So she doesn’t have anything to do with the economic situation (or so we think). But Sarah Palin’s run for Vice President did shine a big spotlight on Alaska. I think that the state up north is in more peoples brains now than ever. A lot of Americans view it as the final frontier and most of them vow to make a trip up there at least once in their life. I suspect we’ll see people heading up to Alaska because they heard about it during the election campaign. It’s very difficult to get to Alaska without going through the Yukon. Just saying.


Alright. So those are my three reasons why tourism will not decline in our lovely territory next summer. I may be wrong. In fact I am probably wrong. We are at least going to see a drop in families vacationing especially in the middle income bracket. People losing their job will probably not help tourism either. People may be generally depressed in the next few years. Hopefully they will deal with that depression by going on vacation! Tell me what you think. Leave a comment. It would be great to hear some different opinions on this matter.