As Alberta鈥檚 energy industry struggles, the province鈥檚 tourism has become a bright light for the provincial economy, said Travel Alberta vice-president Shelley Grollmuss.
The organization along with Alberta Culture and Tourism are spending the month of May going across the province presenting town hall style meetings to discuss support programs for the tourism industry, explore ways to collaborate, and explain why the $8 billion industry is an economic driver for Alberta.
One of these meetings was held in Jasper May 5, and was attended by about 30 members associated with the municipality鈥檚 tourism sector.
鈥淎 lot of rural areas have been struggling when it comes to tourism, but Jasper has been doing a great job and we want to see that continue,鈥� Grollmuss said. 鈥淎 lot of partners from Jasper are already involved with Travel Alberta, so for them this is about sharing information, but for others this is an opportunity to get more engaged with us.鈥�
Grollmuss鈥� presentation highlighted several opportunities Travel Alberta offers. She said by being actively involved with the organization, businesses have access to all sorts of things from industry training and cooperative marketing initiatives to free event promotion.
鈥淥ur goal is to support the organizations in this room through a variety of services, information and opportunities,鈥� Grollmuss said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e here to strengthen and grow your business.鈥�
The presentation urged Jasper鈥檚 tourism industry to get more involved with social media and other digital platforms. Travel Alberta recently revamped its website by incorporating user generated content鈥攖his means that if someone or a company posts a picture or shares an event through social media and includes the hashtag #ExploreAlberta then it immediately goes into a databank that Travel Alberta can pull from and promote on their website.
鈥淭he website is designed to show the breadth and depth of the things we have to do across the province,鈥� Grollmuss said.
She also encouraged the meeting鈥檚 attendees to join the Alberta Tourism Information Service (ATIS)鈥� a free digital marketing service provided by Travel Alberta that allows the Alberta tourism industry to easily and effectively promote their products and services.
A point of interest for many of the presentation鈥檚 attendees was when Grollmuss discussed how to further open Alberta鈥檚 tourism sector to the Chinese market.
Grollmuss said in 2015 China spent $200 billion on overseas travel鈥� a 53 per cent increase from the year before. Also up seven per cent in the last year were flights from China into Canada.
鈥淲e need to be ready to accept those Chinese visitors and know what they are looking for when they get here,鈥� Grollmuss said. 鈥淲e need to be able to offer some of the products and services that they鈥檙e looking for at our hotels.鈥�
To better improve that market, Travel Alberta has started offering cultural awareness training programs. They鈥檒l be bringing a workshop about this topic to Jasper on June 1.
After Grollmuss concluded, Tourism Jasper鈥檚 Bryan Attree took to the podium to highlight some of the successes the industry in Jasper has seen in the past year which included the town鈥檚 Venture Beyond re-branding, the new commercial flights out of Edson Airport, and the launch of the Jasper events and festivals committee.
鈥淟ooking at our 2016 business plan we have a lot of focus on re-engaging with our shareholders and moving forward with our Venture Beyond campaign,鈥� Attree said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to expand our regional focus to British Columbia and Saskatchewan, and we鈥檙e going to continue to work with our regional and provincial stakeholders to move the Edson Airport forward.鈥�
Attree also noted that in 2015 Jasper National Park saw a five per cent increase in park attendees despite a one per cent decrease in hotel occupancy.
Christian Roy of the Canadian Skyline Adventures, a small guiding company in Jasper, was in attendance at the presentation and said overall he found the information to be helpful.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important for us to look at all the different options that we have in supporting our businesses and connecting with different avenues to promote them,鈥� Roy said.
According to Grollmuss the Alberta tourism industry rakes in about $8 billion a year for the province. It is Travel Alberta鈥檚 goal to see that number climb to $10 billion by 2020.
鈥淲e think we will be able to do that by working collectively with all of our industry partners in this room and across the province,鈥� Grollmuss said.
Kayla Byrne [email protected]
