Buskers welcome return of summer without Pan Am Games

Magicians, clowns and hot dog vendors are a few of the small businesses around Toronto's ferry terminal to Centre Island that expected to capitalize with an estimated 250,000 visitors in town for the Pan Am Games.

But for many of them, it didn't pan out that way.

Buskers and small businesses working in traditional tourist destinations in Toronto's downtown core say business slowed down since the Games started.

Stacey Laureyssens, who is known as Empress Cherry Sunday when she is busking at the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal, says she is just not seeing the same foot traffic.

"Right now, everyday should be like a weekend, but it doesn't feel that way," she said. "A lot of people who live in the city are doing things further away from the core."

As someone who busks for a living, the Games have meant financial difficulty for her.

"[Profits have] gone from a couple hundred dollars a day, to maybe a hundred bucks a day," she said.

Locals, tourists staying away

Gabor Forgacs, a professor at Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Management specializing in tourism management, explained that events like Pan Am can disrupt normal business for street performers and small businesses.

"A number of [locals] who are concerned about traffic and congestion and not necessarily interested in the event, time their vacations so that they'd rather stay away from the city during the event," Forgacs said. "They perceive the city has issues that they prefer not to deal with."

Laureyssens also says he has noticed less tourists around.

That could be because traditional tourist choose another time to visit, when big events like Pan Am are not going on.

"The international visitors who might not be interested in the Games time their visit so that they are not going to coincide with the Games," he said. "They perceive there will be a lot of traffic and chaos, and they stay away."

'It has not driven our revenue up'

Vendors located near Pan Am Games venues — like Toronto's Distillery District, which is across the street from the Pan Am Athletes' Village — are similarly disappointed.

Paula DiRenzo is the owner and manager of a small oils and spirits shop in the Distillery District called Vom Fass. She said the upbeat atmosphere and increase in foot traffic has not translated into extra re.

"If we are talking revenue, then I can't say that it's brought anything, because when I look at last year and the year before, I am up, but just at the regular rate, and not because of anything specific to Pan Am," she said. "It has not driven our revenue up."

According to Forgacs, it is still too early to determine the final outcome of the Games' impact on the local economy, but he shares some of the concerns of small businesses.  

"Toronto, especially the downtown core, with the disruption, may not bring any spikes for businesses," Forgacs said.