A light show similar to the one Toronto Zoo is planning was a financial flop in Kingston

Thestar.com
Oct. 22, 2019
Francine Kopun

A light show like the one the Toronto Zoo is planning to launch this winter was a financial failure for Fort Henry, according to an internal audit.

Lumina Borealis was a nighttime light show that launched at Fort Henry in Kingston in 2016. It was designed to draw tourists to the historic site during the winter off-season.

The Toronto Zoo also hopes to use a Lumina light show to draw visitors to the zoo in winter with a model they expect is different enough that it will make money instead of losing it.

“The Kingston Lumina model is very different from ours. They were only open a few weeks each year, versus our experience which will be open for several months each year,” said Toronto Zoo spokesperson Jennifer Tracey.

“In addition, the population around the Kingston area is significantly lower than the more than five million people who live within driving distance to the zoo.”

Lumina light shows are large-scale, immersive and interactive productions by the Quebec-based Moment Factory, which has done tour concert lighting for artist’s including Ed Sheeran and Jay-Z. Moment Factory has sold Lumina shows in municipalities including Whistler, B.C., where organizers say the show has been successful.

According to the audit, Lumina Borealis at Fort Henry was forecast over an eight-year-period to generate an average annual operating profit of $602,000, based on average revenues of $1.5 million and average operating costs of $928,000.

Attendance figures were forecast to average 87,500 a year.

Instead the project resulted in substantial losses -- $279,000 in the first year and $308,000 in the second year.

The audit found that attendance forecasts were overly optimistic and not enough consideration was given to variables like economic downturns and the weather.

Attendance in the first year was forecast at 70,000, increasing to 90,000 in each of the remaining years. Actual attendance in the first year was 18 per cent below forecast -- 57,000 people attended. Only 28,000 people attended the second year, partly due to extreme cold weather, the audit concluded.

The original budget for Lumina Borealis was $900,000, but actual costs, including capital costs, reached $2.3 million.

The show will not return this year, according to Krista Doyle, a spokesperson for the St. Lawrence Parks Commission, the agency responsible for Fort Henry, Upper Canada Village and other attractions between Kingston and the Quebec border.

The St. Lawrence Parks Commission “has taken significant steps since that time to strengthen its procurement processes, and immediately address all of the recommendations identified in the audit report,” according to Doyle.

The Toronto Zoo says it’s continuing to move ahead with its Lumina show, to debut later this year.

“We remain optimistic given the enthusiasm we have received from the public, stakeholders, zoo guests, staff and volunteers that it will be a positive experience,” said Tracey.

She added that planning is well underway and evening shows are expected to launch in December and run until Easter 2020. The plan is to run the event at the zoo from October to April in 2020-2021 and again in 2021-2022.

The Toronto Zoo’s $5 million Lumina proposal was met with resistance by Toronto councillors when it was presented earlier this year. The zoo had been seeking a loan guarantee from the city to operate the show, but councillors were reluctant to agree without the zoo providing guarantees to the city that it would backstop the loan.

The zoo ended up using money from its charitable arm to finance the show.

“The zoo did significant research and sensitivity analysis of potential financial scenarios in its due diligence related to the project and is confident this experience will draw new audiences to the zoo and further position the City of Toronto as a key destination during the winter months,” said Tracey.

Moment Factory declined to comment on the financial viability of any of its shows.

“Questions regarding profitability should be addressed to our clients,” said spokesperson Marie-Claire Lynn.

“We continue to receive positive feedback from visitors and our clients who renew and enhance their experience year after year.”

A spokesperson for the private company running the Vallea Lumina Show in Whistler, B.C., said they recently wrapped up their second summer season of operations.

“We have been so impressed with the strong performance of the last two summers that we are investing in a winter edition of Vallea Lumina,” said Jason Langlois, director of sales and marketing for The Adventure Group.

The winter show will mean that the company will operate a Lumina show in Whistler for 10 months of the year. While Langlois said attendance and feedback exceeded initial projections, he declined to share figures or comment on the profitability of the show.

“I can share that we are excited to continue our relationship with Moment Factory for the foreseeable future,” he added.

At the St. Lawrence Parks Commission, numerous other concerns with procurement practices were uncovered by the audit, conducted by the Ontario internal audit division of the Treasury Board Secretariat and submitted to the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport in June 2018.

Among them: hospitality costs in excess of $9,000 for the opening of Lumina Borealis, when only $2,000 had been approved; losses of $129,667 over two years related to the operation of the Skywood Zipline, which was forecast to generate net operating profits of $150,000 a year, and serious non-compliance procurement issues related to the St. Lawrence Parks Commission website.

The audit was obtained by the Star under a Freedom of Information request.