Tokin’ tourism

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This article was published 17/08/2018 (2078 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Local cannabis advocate Allan Pineda dreams of welcoming weary travellers to a cannabis-friendly Airbnb in Winnipeg.

He and his associates are already renovating three empty units for the project somewhere in the city (he’s keeping the location to himself for now). Two of the units will be normal guest suites like any other, and a third unit will be a private suite where marijuana consumption is allowed.

Pineda figures that should be in line with the Manitoba government’s restrictive approach to cannabis use, which effectively limits consumption to private property.

“You’ll have keycard access to come in — so it’s not public, it’s still private,” he explains. “And then in that area, you’ll have a little lounge area. People can medicate in there when they want.”

Pineda’s dreams of growing Winnipeg’s cannabis culture go beyond hospitality. He says he’s planning cannabis-friendly “foodie tours” of Winnipeg, and even wants to launch a cannabis festival that’s a bit more mainstream than Winnipeg’s annual 4/20 smoke-fest.

“I want to do it almost like the jazz festival or the reggae festival, in the Cube (Stage),” he says. “Like, that big.”

In the meantime, local tourism and development organizations are taking a wait-and-see approach to the idea of marijuana tourism in Manitoba.

“From a tourism standpoint, it’s a little more difficult just given the restrictions on where cannabis can be consumed here,” says Matt Schaubroeck, the corporate communications manager for Economic Development Winnipeg.

“People come here for our food scene and our craft beer scene,” he says. “There may be a demand for cannabis, but the real question on everyone’s mind is, where can you consume it?”

“If you can only have it in someone’s home, it’s hard to set up a commercial tourism industry or even a business that you would have to head over to someone’s living room to consume.”

If it turns out that tourists do come to Winnipeg specifically to use legal recreational marijuana, he says, “then that’s an economic driver that could potentially be good long-term news for the city.”

Linda Whitfield, Travel Manitoba’s vice-president of marketing and communications, says there’s “very limited research showing that the legalization will lead to an increase in visitation to Canada, and specifically there’s no research existing that tells us that for Manitoba.”

“I know Quebec, for example, looked into it to see if there was potential for an increase from the U.S., and what they determined in their research was that there wouldn’t be, simply because there are enough U.S. states that also have legalization status.”

Whitfield says Travel Manitoba is waiting for further guidance on the issue from Destination Canada, the federal Crown corporation that promotes tourism.

If the research indicates Manitoba could benefit from focusing on cannabis tourism, she says, Travel Manitoba would try to work with the provincial government to take advantage of the opportunity.

On a national level, exactly how Canada’s tourism industry could be reshaped by legal weed is still hazy for many hoping to capitalize on the potential of providing green-focused getaways.

Charlotte Bell, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, points to a lack of clarity from federal, provincial and municipal governments on what will and will not be allowed, and the likelihood that what is already known could very well be undone by upcoming provincial elections, such as New Brunswick’s on Sept. 24.

Bell’s organization, whose members include attractions, concert halls, convention centres, festivals, restaurants, arenas, transportation and travel services, says the prospect of pot-driven tourists will be discussed at an upcoming congress in November.

“There will definitely be opportunities,” is pretty much all she feels comfortable saying now. “It’s still early days.”

Uncertainty over weed is especially high in the hospitality world, where myriad regulations on related sectors could make or break their pot potential. Bell notes that rules vary widely across the country on where cannabis can be sold, with some municipalities taking a harder line than others.

Manitoba’s Non-Smokers Health Protection and Vapour Products Act allows hotel operators to permit marijuana smoking in designated smoking rooms, a provincial spokesman says.

Manitoba Hotel Association president and CEO Scott Jocelyn says he hasn’t yet heard from any Manitoba hotel operators that will try to focus on cannabis tourism.

“It’s more and more difficult to even find hotels that even allow people to smoke in their guest rooms… it really puts that room out of bounds for the potential next customer who’s a non-smoker.”

Jocelyn says the Manitoba Hotel Association is focused on finding opportunities for hoteliers to retail cannabis, particularly in rural Manitoba. But if hotel customers want the ability to use cannabis in their rooms, he’s confident someone will make it happen.

“We’re in the customer-service business,” he says.

“If there’s something people are looking for, and the operators can create that experience, then we will have operators that will try their best to make sure they’re providing that.”

— With files from The Canadian Press

solomon.israel@freepress.mb.ca @sol_israel