With the loonie predicted to drop to 90 cents against the U.S. dollar by mid-year, some Jasper tourism operators are anticipating an increase in travelers from south of the border - despite rising fuel prices.

“Overall, it was an excellent winter season, and I’m optimistic about the summer,” said Helen Kelleher-Empey, general manager of Jasper Tourism and Commerce. 

Mike Merilovich is not so sunny about the approaching season.

The owner of On-Line Sports and Tackle doesn’t think the dollar will drop fast enough to draw Americans who are still adjusting to tougher border security. Rising fuel prices will also slow rubber-tire tourism, he believes. 

Entry numbers recorded at the Jasper Park gate appear to be holding steady. There were 1,991,615 visitors in 2006-2007 and 1,428,565 during the peak months of April to September last year.

Kelleher-Empey said that visits by British tourists are up since the introduction of direct bus service between Jasper, Edmonton International and West Edmonton Mall.

Bus departures coincide with Air Canada flights from Britain, but also pull in travelers from the United States, Japan, and other parts of Canada, she said.

Organized tours are still a strong component of Jasper tourism, but Kelleher-Empey said there is a growing trend among affluent and aging baby boomers to travel independently.

“They are less likely than the seniors of today to sign on for an extended bus tour,” she said.

Helen Kelleher-Empey is in Los Angeles this week, “speed dating,” as she calls it, with travel writers at a marketing event set up by the Canadian Tourism Commission.

In addition to several freelance writers and photographers who want to know what Jasper has to offer, Kelleher-Empey is responding to interview requests from representatives from the New York Daily News, BBC World Service and Lonely Planet Guides.

She has an impressive marketing tool in her marketing quiver: one of a series of lush photographs that illustrated a story on Jasper in the summer 2007 edition of Canadian Geographic Travel magazine was awarded a top prize by the Canadian Tourism Commission.

“A well-placed story might be worth millions in advertising,” Kelleher-Empey said before heading out for four hectic days of meeting and networking with more than 300 top travel writers and photographers.