Sundre tourism hurt by pipeline rupture

Anoil spill last month near Sundreis hurting the local economy, officials in the central Alberta town say.

In June a pipeline owned by Plains Midstream Canada ruptured, spilling about 3,000 barrels of oil into the Red Deer River.

But even though the accident happened several kilometres downstream of Sundre, news of the spill has scared away summer visitors to the town, said Gord Moore, manager of the Sundre and District Chamber of Commerce.

"So we have some great rapids up in the mountains thereClass3 and4 rapids. But they've had cancellations and campgrounds are seeing a decline in numbers because they don't want to be anywhere near a river that has oil in it," he said.

Local horseback riding outfitters have also seen a drop in business, he said.

Rally held

In a bid to get the word out that attractions around Sundre are safely upstream of the oil spill, local businesses and town officials held a rally on Monday at noon.

Many businesses say reservations were cancelled when news ofthe crudespill in June hit the newsand it's been slow ever since.

Sherry Tytkanych, president of the Sundreand DistrictChamberof Commerce, says businesses rely on tourists in the summer.

"Typically we go from 3,000 [people]during the winter to10 to12 thousand people in the summer," she said."It's huge.

"We have so many people from Calgary that have summer homes out here, people that come and camp. Some of the campgrounds are by the river so that was an obvious concern for them but I think everything's turning around so hopefully this message gets out to people that it's business as usual."

One river rafting company saysit has no reservations at all for next week, and that overall business is down about20 per cent.