Joanne McQuarrie, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter | [email protected]
Alberta's tourism sector is getting a boost from the provincial government, and Jasper will benefit.
Tourism Jasper, the official marketing organization of Jasper and Jasper National Park is one of five organizations that will receive a combined total of $8 million in support.
The others include organizations in Calgary, Edmonton, Banff and Canmore that promote their respective tourism destinations.
"We're grateful for the support from the provincial government," said James Jackson, president and chief executive officer for Tourism Jasper.
鈥淲e're looking forward to working with David Goldstein (chief executive officer for Travel Alberta) and the entire Travel Alberta team on their revised mandate."
The goal is to safely attract visitors to the province for spring and summer of next year 鈥� visitors who will frequent local businesses and get Albertans working.
"Jasper sees over 2.5 million visitors a year, and it's a very important component of Alberta's visitor economy," Jackson said.
"We appreciate the provincial government is assisting us with driving that industry."
The $8 million hasn't been disbursed yet, he added.
"The increase in the (COVID) caseload aside," Jackson said, "Jasper is well positioned to get through this winter once we can collectively get a handle on that鈥�, adding the U.S. border closure is a huge factor in the health of the tourism sector.
And there's still 鈥渁 lot of hard work ahead鈥�, Jackson said.
"Tourism Jasper is investing a significant amount of money over the course of the winter toward activities in the community, through use of Christmas lights and other activities,鈥� he said.
"We're trying to do our part in lifting everyone's spirit."
And as Tourism Jasper is expanding its role in the community, Travel Alberta is doing the same in the province.
Now, the organization is responsible for helping develop new travel destinations and expanding tourism across the province, in addition to marketing and promoting Alberta as a must-see tourism destination.
Travel Alberta will also conduct industry research to give tourism businesses and stakeholders a more thorough understanding of the current state of the sector so they can make informed business decisions.
CEO Goldstein welcomed the announcement of monetary supports from the provincial government "to help Alberta鈥檚 battered tourism sector through the pandemic, while setting our industry up for long-term recovery and growth".
He said Travel Alberta is focusing on attracting high-yield visitors where the measure of success is boosting revenue, as well as visitor numbers.
Keeping levies
Hotels and lodging providers in Alberta can now keep tourism levy amounts collected between Mar. 1, 2020 and Mar. 31, 2021, to help the industry get through the COVID-19 pandemic.
In May, the Alberta government said operators could keep the money, four per cent of the purchase price of the accommodation, from Mar. 31 to Dec. 31 to free up $22 million for the sector.
And now that abatement period has been extended.
A government news release estimates the move will free up to $10 million in additional cash flow for the sector to employ staff and maintain operations through the winter season.
According to Statistics Canada there were about 20,000 tourism-related businesses in Alberta in June 2020, accounting for 3.7 per cent of the total number of businesses in the province. About 11 per cent of Canada鈥檚 tourism-related businesses are in Alberta.
The majority of Alberta鈥檚 tourism-related businesses (98.6 per cent) are small, consisting of either a self-employed person with a minimum annual revenue of $30,000, or a business with between one and 99 employees.
