Travel Lakeland is hosting two open-house events next week, with the intention of getting people in tourism-related enterprises communicating with each other. Anyone involved in the sector—tourism operators, suppliers, governments—is welcome to attend.
Tourism offers high returns for the region. Travel Lakeland’s project manager Michelle Wright says inbound travel is actually an export commodity.
“People come from away to enjoy what we have,” Wright said. “So we’re not sending something to them, but we’re definitely sharing it with people from outside of our region.”
When dollars from elsewhere are spent in the Lakeland, the economy grows, she explained. She cites statistics that show an 11-to-1 return to communities from investment in the tourism sector.
“Not only that, but one of the pieces we find really important especially when we’re working with government, is how do we create opportunities for our residents that are attractive to tourists as well?” Wright said.
“Then the residents are getting the benefit of having something created in their community that is also attracting people to come and visit.”
It can be hard to see the attractive experiences in your own back yard, or to appreciate that someone else might find them worth visiting. But there is a lot to see and do in our region, Wright says, and a lot of people who would be excited to visit.
“It’s usually the residents that look around and they see what they have in their own community, but they don’t necessarily connect it to being something that would be of interest or valuable to someone as a visitor,” she said. “And it absolutely is.”
“When you look at Travel Lakeland and this region, all of this natural beauty, things like the Iron Horse Trail, Metis Crossing, Kinosoo Ridge, Lac La Biche, Cold Lake Marina, the beaches— these are things that people are absolutely looking for.
“And we’ve got 1.2 million people within an hour of our region that are looking for places to go and places to be, and to enjoy the outdoors,” Wright said. “We just don’t realize how interesting and attractive things can be.”
The plan for Travel Lakeland is not to match Banff or Jasper for tourism numbers, but to build on what’s here and to make visiting easier.
“We’re talking over the next 10 years to add 600 tourism jobs, and to see investment every year at about a half a million dollars in the tourism industry,” Wright said. “We’re not talking about a massive overhaul of who we are as a region, it’s more about just making it easier for the tourists to get around, to get connected, to find out where all the gems are.”
The Travel Alberta Open Houses will be at the Nutrien Ag Centre in Smoky Lake on Monday, April 20; and Two Hills Lions Golf and Country Club on April 21. Both of the events runs from 4:00 to 7:00 pm.
For more information or to register, contact office@travellakeland.ca.