Although significant snow fell during the weekend in the Bemidji area and in most parts of Minnesota, snow days have been few and far between this season.
While the low-snow season has helped tourists travel through the area, it has not given them a reason to stay. Bemidji is expected to get a few more inches of snow this week. However, at this point it may be too little, too late as the snowmobile season ends on March 31.
According to Gayle Quistgaard, executive director of VisitBemidji, requests for maps of the Bemidji area are down.
"There has been about a 10 percent drop in general visitors to Bemidji," said Quistgaard.
Non-snow activities like youth hockey and ice fishing have kept the tourism numbers from dropping farther.
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The main tourism draw in the winter is snowmobiling, she said.
"Bemidji doesn't have any big events like other areas do," said Quistgaard. "Most people come here for the cross-country skiing and snowmobiling."
Bemidji sits at the crossroads of two major trails in the Minnesota Interconnecting Trail System, MITS-71 and MITS-2. Bemidji is also where the Paul Bunyan and Blue Ox trails connect.
The North Country Snowmobile Club helps keep the trails well groomed and marked.
"We've put in a lot of work on the trails this year," said club member Mike Smith. "The trails had a complete sign makeover with all new signs and they're in the best condition they've been in."
The NCSC has worked in conjunction with the Bemidji police department to outfit the trails with a global positioning system.
However, all these new features have seen little use this season.
Usually thousands come to the area to take advantage of the trails, but this year the numbers have been extremely low.
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"I haven't seen a lot of snowmobiles of trailers like in years past," said Quistgaard.
The lack of people coming to Bemidji to snowmobile also hurts local businesses.
"What happens is people end up canceling their reservations at hotels," said Smith. "If they're not up here, they're not spending money at restaurants, they're not shopping here and they're not buying gas."
While one low-snow season is worrisome, another season like this one could prove costly to local tourism.
"If you have two seasons like this in a row, people quit coming here (to snowmobile) or they leave the sport," said Smith. "Once you leave the sport, it is very hard to get back into it because the buyback is so expensive."
