Provincial Time Policy Creates Uncertainty
- Tourism Industry Association of Alberta
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
TIAA outlines key industry safety and consumer impact concerns arising from Bill 31's move to permanent daylight savings time
This past winter was a major win for Alberta tourism. Despite challenging weather in other parts of the world, Alberta saw a 50% spike in American ski visits. This growth shows how much international travelers value Alberta’s world-class mountain operations and safety standards. Not to mention, we enjoy some of the most consistent, and arguably the best, spring skiing on the planet.
As our industry plans for future seasons, year round activity and even new all-season resorts, we are watching Bill 31 closely. This is the legislation that proposes moving the province to permanent Mountain Daylight Time (MDT), which the government is calling Alberta Time.
To ensure the government understands the practical side of this for our industry, TIAA submitted a formal letter to Minister Dale Nally. While we support efforts to reduce red tape, the visitor economy has specific needs that shouldn't be overlooked. In our submission, we pointed out that without a detailed cost-benefit analysis, permanent Mountain Standard Time (MST) is likely a safer and more stable choice for tourism than permanent Daylight Time. Research from Europe has also indicated that the wider economic effects of such changes are often inconclusive, with only marginal energy savings.
Key Concerns for Our Industry
Our submission focuses on three areas that have been brought to our attention from Canada's Ski Areas West Association, many of TIAA's members as well as previous submissions during the last referendum on this issue.
Winter Morning Safety In some areas, winter sunrises could be as late as 9:30 a.m. This directly affects essential early-morning safety work, including avalanche control, terrain preparation, and lift inspections.
Alignment Being out of sync with other regions and consumer expectations doesn't cause problems for airlines, international tour operators, attractiveness of winter activities or traveler schedules.
Predictable Planning Tourism businesses plan investments and staffing months or years in advance.
The 'One-Year Trial' Approach
Premier Danielle Smith has suggested that Albertans "try year-round daylight time for one year" to see how it feels. Since Bill 31 has passed its first reading and is moving forward, we encourage operators to talk with their local MLAs. We want the government to hear about safety and economic impacts throughout all seasons. TIAA remains concerns that "Alberta Time" creates real safety and economic barriers for existing, and future, year-round tourism operations by adopting Permanent Daylight Savings rather than Permanent Standard Time
Stay Informed
Our province has built a strong international reputation by prioritizing safety and a great guest experience.
We encourage you to share your own operational stories and concerns with your MLA representatives and ourselves. Keeping the conversation focused on the day-to-day reality of running a tourism business is the best way to protect our province's success and we understand that on issues like permanent time there are many valid perspectives.
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