LAKELAND - A campaign spearheading the growth and development of the tourism industry in Northeast Alberta will include an investment from the federal government, this year.
The Northeast Collaborative, an award-winning campaign led by Lac La Biche County in collaboration with four regional partners will see a $170,780 investment from the PrairiesCan’s Tourism Relief Fund to be used for tourism programming and education, said Alex Fuller, the County’s economic development coordinator.
“Tourism businesses within the Collaborative will be able to take advantage of these training opportunities to build capacity for digital and social media marketing and visitor experience development,” explained Fuller.
The offerings will see Tourism Café support the regional visitor development plan to assess how to best highlight and promote the needs of the County and the northeast partners: Athabasca County, Métis Crossing, the Municipal District of Bonnyville and the Town of Vermilion.
“We're looking at a visitor corridor development plan that's going to examine the tourism markets in each participating community or destination and identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and similarities,” in order to bounce off one another’s strengths throughout the collaborative effort, he explained.
Educational offerings
Tourism Café, alongside Seekers Media, an organization providing the Collaborative with marketing campaigns like the #TakeItToTheLake and #NEAB for the past several years, will be expanding services to benefit not only municipal and community interests, but businesses too, said Fuller.
“In addition to the strategic destination planning work, the project will engage around 50 businesses across the region, including 23 Indigenous entrepreneurs, with training between now and the end of March 2023.”
Developing the opportunities available for the picturesque northeast region filled with a variety of scenic, recreational and outdoor activities, is not only a part of a decade-long initiative to promote tourism but one that includes highlighting the entire offerings in the Northeast region, said Fuller.
“Northeast Alberta has extraordinary tourism potential, which is something we all recognize,” from the abundant lakes, history, heritage and outdoor activities offered in partnering communities.
“That's one thing all of the communities and destinations have in common,” he says.
“What are the attractions in each area that align with those interests? How do we draw people from one community to the next so that they extend their visits or they plan return visits to the region?... Tourism and economic development is all about big picture thinking.”
Digital focus
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought on challenges to expand tourism efforts, creating a digital focus for partners, businesses, stakeholders and recreational offerings to take advantage of the new opportunity will hopefully contribute to drawing more tourism to the region, said Fuller
“It's difficult to thrive as a business in a world that quickly became digital focused.” So, the new funding will help diversify the digital media training and education opportunities covering up to 90 per cent of the program’s costs, he explained.
And for the business that are new to the digital era or looking to build partnerships to benefit and add tourism opportunities, the program will help them too.
“Whether you’re a ‘mom-and-pop’ shop wanting to partner with someone else to reduce the cost of digital advertising or website development, or you're a fully-fledged destination management organization wanting to partner,” the regionally focused campaign aims to support those goals.
Continuing the Northeast Collaborative's momentum, which in recent years has seen accolades from the Economic Developers Alberta and the National Economic Developers Association of Canada, is key.
“Northeast Alberta has extraordinary tourism potential, which is something we all recognize… It’s much easier to get things done together than apart, and that's always been the core idea of this partnership,” said Fuller.
