Coronavirus outbreak in China hurting northern B.C. festival attendance, says organizer

The organizer of a festival in northern British Columbia is concerned attendance will be down after marketing the event extensively in China before thecoronavirus outbreak

The Northern Lights Festival, now in its second year,takes place from March12 to March 21in Fort Nelson, B.C., and features winter activities such as dog sled rides, hot spring excursions and northern lights viewing,as well as numerous concerts and cultural experiences.

Organizer Cory Howdensaid a lot of resources were put toward attracting visitors from China and Hong Kong to the festival and now the coronavirus and subsequent international travel restrictionsmean those efforts may have been in vain this year.

"All of the applicants that applied for visas to come to the festival so far have been denied coming out of China," said Howdenon Daybreak North Tuesday. "It's forced us to refocus our marketing efforts."

And this is not the first time events in China have impacted attendance. Howden saida diplomatic dispute between Canada and China over the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver also caused people from China to cancel trips to the festival last year.

But Howdenwants to build up tourism in the community, which is primarily dependent on the oil and gas industryand is not giving up. He said it's been a rocky road marketing toChina and Hong Kong for the last two years but hopefully those efforts will pay off in the long run.

"When a community relies solely on one industry, it is subject to ups and downs," he said.

"The tourism and the beauty we have in the North is also something that can help create a baseline and help create a balance, so when other things go up and down hopefully, it doesn't happen all at the same time," added Howden.

In the meantime,Howden and the festival team have shiftedtheir marketing focus this year to Europe and the United States. And there has already been proven success attracting guests from south of the border.

Howdensaid last year there were twovisitorsfrom Texas who went home and told their friends about the festival. This year, Howden said, 54 Texans will be making the trip up north.