Over the course of a single September day, Jasper has the opportunity to grab the attention of millions of people around the world.
The Tour of Alberta is in search of the perfect mountain landscape for Stage 2 of its 2015 professional cycling event and is looking to Jasper National Park to take on the role.
That would mean 120 world-class athletes pedalling through the park next September, while 11 sportscasters from across the globe broadcast the race to upwards of 40 million international viewers in 161 countries.
Now, that’s a lot of potential visitors!
Think about it: people in households all over the planet will be curled up on their couches, remote in hand, absorbing the beauty of Jasper’s spectacular landscapes and dreaming of their next vacation.
The town couldn’t ask for a better marketing opportunity.
But there’s just one catch: there’s a $150,000 rights fee to be a host community and that number appears to be out of the municipality’s price range. (The Economic Development Fund is sitting at about $15,000.)
During the Oct. 21 council meeting, the tour’s executive director, Duane Vienneau, acknowledged that the dollar figure might be beyond the realm of possibility for Jasper and suggested there might be a way to make it work, but he didn’t give any specifics as to how.
He did say, though, that there is a tight timeline for host communities to confirm their participation. In fact, he said he hopes to hear from each of the communities by the end of October.
Although that doesn’t leave much time for the municipality to come up with $150,000, we hope council will take what little time it has to confer with its partners throughout the community in an effort to raise the funds.
Because, although $150,000 seems like a huge upfront fee, there’s no doubt Jasper will benefit 10-fold from that investment. Not only will the community gain from the 1,000-person entourage that will call Jasper home for a night, it will also gain from the immense exposure it will receive both leading up to and during the race.
This is an marketing opportunity not to be missed.
