It will come as no surprise to anyone that tourist visitation and spending in Montana took a big hit last year as the pandemic shut down businesses and closed the border with Canada.
However, businesses that cater to tourists, such as fly fishing outfitters, say 2021 is shaping up to be a big rebound year.
About 11.1 million people from out of state visited Montana last year, which is 1.5 million fewer tourists compared to 2019, according to the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana.
In 2020, those visitors spent an estimated combined total of $3.15 billion in the state, which is $450 million less than 2019.
“It’s down from previous years,” explained Kara Grau, assistant director for economic analysis at the institute, which has released its 2020 estimates for nonresident visitation, expenditures and economic impact. “Spending was down 16% for the year compared to 2019 and visitation was down 12% from 2019.”
Grau cautioned that workers for the institute were not able to survey travelers face-to-face at gas stations and other areas during the second quarter of the year, unlike normal years. That means they had to use Montana Department of Commerce data to observe changes in traveler spending to compare the second quarters of 2019 and 2020.
“Differing methods and alternate data sources warrant caution in making close comparisons or interpretation of changes from 2019 to 2020,” Grau wrote in the report.
However, she’s still fairly confident that the numbers for 2020 are accurate.
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“Quarter three really did show a pretty strong comeback compared to where we were at in quarter two,” she said. “The fourth quarter, the last three months of the year, we really did not see as drastic a loss as we were thinking we might be looking at.”
Grau noted that even though there were fewer nonresident visitors, some areas in Montana were still overrun. State parks saw a record number of visitors in 2020, about 33% more than 2019. Those parks, of course, see many residents coming to camp and recreate.
“It probably varies a lot across the state,” Grau said. “Certain communities were pretty slammed during the busy tourist season. And certain communities were really lacking. A lot of areas in the state had really darn good numbers compared to some that were hurting.”
There were also some big changes in spending patterns, she said.
Visitors spent about $48 million more on groceries and snacks in 2020 because they weren’t going to restaurants as much. Hotels and motels saw about $148 million less in spending as more people opted for rental cabins, condos or campgrounds.
It’s pretty likely that 2021 will see a big rebound, Grau said.
“State parks are awfully busy,” she said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if in 2021, when all is said and done and fingers crossed we control the pandemic, we regain all or most of what we lost in this last year in terms of travel.”
If fishing outfitter businesses in the Missoula area are any indication, 2021 is already off to a hot start.
“It’s super nutty,” explained John Herzer, who owns Blackfoot River Outfitters with his wife, Terri Raugland. “My sense of it, talking to everybody, is we’re going to see an increase in the number of fly fishing people for sure across the board for a year or two. This year in particular is going to be silly.”
They’ve been inundated with calls this spring.
“We already have more blackout dates, because we’re booked up, than we’ve ever had total in 30 years,” he said.
Herzer believes large marketing firms in big cities are using fly fishing as a way to market products to millions of people, he said.
“Fly fishing, in the last couple years, has become socially a very desired activity across the board,” he said. “People watch a three-second clip and it’s just become this goal of people who are leaving the city. They’ve turned it into just a widespread national-level interest.”
Wayne Fairchild, the founder of Lewis & Clark River Expeditions in Missoula, said bookings are already up 40% this year.
Brendan Bannigan, the owner of the Grizzly Hackle fly fishing guide shop, said he’s already had to turn down customers in June and July because they’re booked solid.
“We’re anticipating a busier summer than last year, which will be interesting,” he said. “We have some gaps, but certainly the latter half of June and most of July is booked.”
His customers come from all over, but many come from the southeast United States along with California, Texas, Seattle and Portland, he said.
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