The Alberta Northern Rockies Tourism Alliance is working to increase tourism to the region, and it’s using Jasper National Park to anchor its strategy.
The alliance is a collaboration of 14 groups in the region, stretching from Edmonton to Grande Cache, and includes Jasper National Park, Alberta Parks, several regional municipalities and organizations, and Tourism Jasper.
Kimberley Worthington, the president and chair of the tourism alliance, said its goal is to become a destination marketing organization, capable of selling the Northern Rockies as a premiere tourism destination.
She explained that after becoming a non-profit organization in June 2013, the alliance received an $80,000 grant from Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation to develop a marketing plan for the region.
Joe Pavelka is the consultant hired to create the plan, and throughout the month of January he made the rounds to municipal councils in the region to share his findings.
On Jan. 13, he spoke to Hinton town councillors, and told them that if all the partners in the alliance work together, the potential exists to fundamentally change tourism in the area.
He explained that tourism in Alberta has been steadily growing, but in the Northern Rockies region it has never been “pushed forward” in an organized manner. The tourism alliance has the potential to accomplish that.
“At no time in the past has there been this spread, this number of stakeholders involved in pushing this agenda forward,” he said.
In order to keep that momentum moving in an organized manner, the “big idea” is to pool resources and work collaboratively to sell the region as one, large tourism destination.
“The idea is to establish Alberta and the Alberta Rockies as a single destination,” he said. “Gone are the days when we’re fighting for the same person. What we’re trying to do today, we’re trying to put longer, more robust itineraries together.”
Worthington likened the Northern Rockies to a mall, with an anchor tenant that draws people in and additional stores that provide things the anchor doesn’t.
“Jasper National Park is the Alberta Northern Rockies anchor tenant. So people are going to go there anyways, and there’s lot’s of activities to do in Jasper National Park, but there’s also lots of activities outside of the park that the other [towns] can offer.”
She pointed out that national parks prohibit many activities, and that by highlighting some of those offered in nearby communities, the tourism alliance can draw attention to towns like Hinton and Edson.
Pavelka echoed this sentiment.
“It’s easier to take someone who’s drawn to Jasper and say ‘why don’t you do half the day this and half the day that?"
“It’s them understanding that they can go ziplining and hand gliding in Hinton, and they can’t in the park.”
“We all work together. The park has lots to offer ... if we want people to stay longer in the area, then why not capitalize on what is outside the park as well, so people can come for multiple experiences,” Worthington said.
But beyond collaborating to better get that message out, the tourism alliance hopes to develop the “corridor” between Edmonton and Jasper as a destination in itself.
“What’s clear is that this particular corridor, in this particular region, it is quite unique,” Pavelka said.
Tons of people make the trip from Edmonton to Jasper each year, but many go straight through, and stop in towns like Hinton and Edson only for gas.
But that four-hour drive can be too long for some families, and towns can capitalize on that to draw people in. By repackaging some of their tourist offers, they can attract people to stay for a day, or even overnight, as a part of the experience of driving to Jasper.
“The idea is to develop the corridor such that the distance is [figuratively] shortened,” Pavelka said.
It’s an ambitious project, but one Worthington said could dramatically change the way people visit the Northern Rockies.
In order to carry it out, the tourism alliance will have to establish itself as a destination marketing organization, and in order to do that it needs funding.
Although he wasn’t asking the municipalities he visited for money, Pavelka said that most DMOs in their infancy are funded by municipalities until they grow enough to seek money from hotel levies or the government.
He estimated that in order to be viable, the tourism alliance would need to raise $45,000 at the low end, or $275,000 at the top end.
Worthington said the alliance is still working on all of those details, and that she expects Pavelka’s destination management plan to be completed in the spring of 2015.
Only then will the organization decide how to move forward.
Trevor Nichols
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