Mark Lione notices the difference when the Sidney ferry run kicks into high gear during the summer.

More people stay at his Anacortes motel.

“During the prime summer schedule when we have two (sailings) a day, we see over 3,000 people just here at our place,” said Lione, who owns Cap Sante Inn downtown.

That’s about $120,000 in room revenue.

Lione said when people stay here on their way to or from Canada they usually eat at restaurants or do some shopping, which spreads even more money around Anacortes.

“They’re leaving those dollars here,” he said.

The dollars, and a bundle of tax revenue, will go away, though, if the international run is eliminated, as Gov. Christine Gregoire proposed in her budget.

Local leaders fighting to save the run have made the ferry’s economic impact the key piece in their argument that the run must be preserved. As the budget work continues in Olympia, ferry backers are making sure lawmakers know all about a recent study by E.D. Hovee & Co. that details how the international ferry run between Anacortes and Sidney provides significant economic benefit to the region.

It shows that 1,470 jobs with more than $30 million in annual payroll and nearly $126 million in annual spending are associated with the run.

The state receives $4.6 million a year in taxes related to the Anacortes-Sidney run, according to the report.

Local jurisdictions collect $1.3 million in tax receipts each year. The study says about $45 in state and local taxes are generated in the Northern Puget Sound region for every Anacortes-Sidney ferry rider.

The governor aims to save money by eliminating the run as the state faces an $8 billion budget hole. But add it all up and the state would lose money — not save money — if the run is chopped, ferry supporters say.

Businesses here and around the region would feel the impact immediately if the run, which the state has operated since the 1950s, stops.

“If we eliminate (the run) some of that will be replaced by other tourists, but the bulk of that is going to be lost,” Lione said. “That represents not just the dollars and tax revenue, that means for me maybe I’ll have to lose a part-time employee.”

Lione’s motel represents about 10 percent of the rooms on the island. That means Anacortes hotels could lose more than $1 million if others have the same number of ferry customers.

About 110,00 people a year ride the international ferry. With each one generating about $960 in tourism spending on lodging and everything else, a lot is riding on the Legislature’s final decision, expected this spring.

“I think you can assume it would be a fairly substantial drop,” said Eric Hovee, an author of the E.D. Hovee & Co. study.

He said some visitors would continue visiting the region, but not as many will come through Anacortes.

“I’m sure there would be some visitation. The direct Vancouver Island-related visitation would suffer the most,” he said.

Travelers often do a loop from Washington to British Columbia, taking the Anacortes-Sidney run for one leg of the trip and using other routes, such as taking a ferry to the Vancouver area or Port Angeles, to circle around. Without the ferry run, more traffic would be diverted to the I-5 corridor, Hovee said.

“People make trips for all kinds of reasons. Some people may take the ferry one way and return another way and make a loop,” he said. “The absence of the ferry reduces the attractiveness of doing that loop.”

Over the last few years, the trend has been for more visitors to use Anacortes as a home base, Lione said. They spend up to four nights here, making day trips to places like Sidney and the San Juan Islands.

“It is amazing how many people come and spend the night here in Anacortes and explore Anacortes. It’s going to have a huge impact for us if they stop that,” he said.

Linda Harvey, manager of Ship Harbor Inn, which is perched right above the ferry terminal at Ship Harbor, said it would affect her business and others in the area.

“It doesn’t just affect me as a hotel, it affects the restaurants and other businesses,” she said.

When the Sidney boat is running, she said one-third to one-half of the visitors she sees use it. The tourists often stick around to go whale watching, have dinner, rent bikes, go kayaking or take a walk around Washington Park.

“They stay for a couple nights,” Harvey said. “We really work with the guests and let them know everything they can do so Anacortes isn’t just a place to spend the night.”

The Hovee study says the economic benefits of the run are substantially above those calculated in a similar 1997 assessment. The current analysis, which uses more detailed tourism profile data, shows big increases in the spending by ferry visitors.

“The composition of ferry related visitor travel has changed over the last decade, with substantially greater spending on a per visitor basis,” it states.

Margie Aipopo, Cheesecake Cafe owner, sees a bump in her business at the state ferry terminal when the run starts. She offers drinks, deli sandwiches, baked goods and, of course, cheesecake.

“In the summer months they run two ferries a day and those are full,” she said. “People come early to make sure they get on the ferry. Those are my customers.”

During the busy summer months, she estimates 30 to 40 percent of her customers take the run.

“From the time we open the gate we know people are there for the 7:45 a.m. Sidney run,” Aipopo said.

In the fall, retirees with their motor homes keep the cafe busy. With nice weather and less crowded vacation spots, older travelers often take the international run.

“Sidney is very popular with them,” she said.

Aipopo says she got lucky with the terminal space when it went up for bid six years ago. She employs many local students during the summer, when the run is busiest.

“To have a shop close to where I live and to provide jobs and income to the local community is a good thing,” she said. “It’s important for us all.”

She plans to stay open if the run is cut, but business would slow down.

“It would be sad,” Aipopo said.

Every year she looks forward to the first run of the season — and it’s not just about the increase in customers. She gets into the festivity and international connection that come with the opening of the run.

“I really like that day,” she said.

Zee Hogan, CEO of Maison Group and Anacortes Chamber of Commerce board president, said Canada has a healthy economy and it would hurt Anacortes retailers to lose those shoppers.

“Everybody has about the same thing to say. It affects us all as retailers, hotels and restaurants. It’s a numbers game. When you lose those numbers you lose the game,” she said. “Those people aren’t in the same mess we are. They have some discretionary income, which is really great.”

And retailers depend on the added business.

“I rely a lot in the summertime on the business of people who travel on that ferry,” Hogan said. “It’s a good getaway for us. Nowadays in the tourism industry it’s the short visits that make the difference.”

Additionally, the international relation aspect of the run would be a great loss, she said.

“It’s a wonderful exchange. When you lose that kind of a thing it’s hard to get it back,” Hogan said. “Giving it up would be a major mistake.”

In a chamber hotel survey, 140 visitors, or about 9 percent of respondents, said they were from Canada. The chamber got back 1,543 survey cards during the first half of 2008.

Thirty-three respondents, or about 5 percent, said they planned to visit Vancouver Island during their stay.

The ferry schedule was one of the things that attracted 213 people, or nearly 14 percent, to visit Anacortes.

The chamber last year got $100,000 to spend on promoting the run, according to Mitch Everton, chamber executive director.

The run is included in several marketing pieces. It takes up the back panel of the chamber’s brochure, which is distributed state-wide and is available at the Sidney visitor center. It is also part of 30-second TV ad campaigns in the spring and fall.

“The last 10 seconds was devoted to the Sidney run,” Everton said. “We frequently use ferries in our backgrounds. It’s kind of iconic, it is the biggest tourist attraction we have in the state. A lot of folks come up here to take the ferry.”

The ferry’s future is a concern in Canada as well.

“(It) makes a significant impact on the community here. Not just the retail, accommodations and attractions but the millions of dollars of impact on Sidney,” said Eileen Leddy, Saanich Peninsula Chamber of Commerce executive director.

She said the run affects 13 communities in the region.

“Everyone wants it to stay. It’s seen as having a significant impact on the community. It’s one of the amenities of our community. We can offer this to residents. They have a beautiful, scenic way of getting to the U.S. and back again,” Leddy said. “It comes practically in the center of the town.”

Sidney leaders wouldn’t mind seeing the run expanded, especially with the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver less than a year away.

“We’d like to see it running all year,” Leddy said.

Rob Gialloreto, president and CEO of Tourism Victoria, said in a letter to Washington State Ferries that it strongly opposes the elimination of the Sidney route. He also suggested the state should consider expanding the service with the upcoming Olympics.

“Our uncertain economic times are indeed the worst time to make ‘superficial’ budget line item cuts,” Gialloreto said. “The short-term potential gain will certainly have much graver consequences to the mid- and long-term future of our regions.”

Dave Cowen, general manager of The Butchart Gardens in Victoria, agreed. In a letter to WSF, he said cutting the run would be devastating to communities on both sides of the run, especially considering the current economic climate.

“There are many economic, cultural and international reasons to keep this run, and my company views this issue as a regional concern that has a large impact on many layers of the complex economy that spans Washington state and British Columbia,” he said.

Cowen said the numbers that spin out of the run are enormous, citing the jobs, payroll and spending associated with the run according to the Hovee report.

“This is simply not the time to cut such a service, and surely these figures and social consequences diminish any short term line item savings to a net of zero,” he said.