Kananaskis Country is a jewel – a large expanse of wilderness area preserved in its natural state for the enjoyment and use of outdoor enthusiasts and as a key habitat area for iconic species like grizzly bear and moose.
It is also a provincially protected area under the purview of Alberta Parks – a division of the Ministry of Environment and Parks. The division used to be under the umbrella of Tourism Parks and Recreation, but a cabinet shuffle was done departmentally after the NDP government of Rachel Notley was elected in 2015.
But that doesn’t mean Alberta Parks isn’t a key component of efforts by the provincial government to grow tourism revenues to $10.3 billion by 2020.
Deputy Minister of Tourism and Culture Darlene Bouwsema said the potential economic development of tourism means both departments are working closely together to achieve those goals.
“At all levels we are focused on ensuring tourism is seen as an important part of the economic development strategy and that policy and budget decisions being made by our sister ministries consider how they can positively impact the tourism industry,” she said.
According to the government’s tourism division, in 2013, Alberta Parks represented $635 million in gross domestic product and provincial parks made a strong contribution towards tourism as an attraction for outdoor recreational pursuits.
Attracting visitors is only part of the strategy moving towards lofty tourism spending goals, said government officials during a recent update from the tourism division at Travel Alberta’s industry conference in Banff. Parks are also key for attraction development, according to assistant deputy minister of Tourism Chris Heseltine.
New attraction opportunities are a significant area of focus for the tourism division and include taking a proactive approach through considering how certain types of attractions would be developed in Alberta – including inside parks.
Heseltine said new opportunities being considered include via ferrata, northern lights viewing, Indigenous cultural experiences, zip lines, comfort camping and luxury guest ranches.
Heseltine said there is recognition there are opportunities to enhance tourism values and the economic impact of park areas as part of the overall tourism strategy.
“Government also does not have the money and ability to create new attractions and experiences in those parks,” he added. “So we are working with our colleagues in Parks to understand what the opportunities will be and how to make that happen.”
The Tourism Division has $725,000 in this fiscal year for business development and investment attraction – 6.25 per cent of its budget. Heseltine said it is important for the division to advocate on behalf of industry in order to open the doors inside government to help develop new attractions.
“This is key because in order to grow business, create new products and attract investors to this province we need to do a better job as a government of getting through the red tape and simplifying the process,” he said.
One area where the tourism industry has indicated there could be a better system is accessing land and Heseltine said that includes access to land to start a new business and access to land to expand one.
“Whether it is in a park or on public lands, it is also about understanding the rules and having clarity around the rules so you can be effective in getting a business up and running,” he said.
Over the past year, he said, the government has worked to redevelop the Alberta Tourism Recreation Leasing Program for crown land and simplified the process from an over 30-page application form that took years to complete to an eight-page one that government staff are trained to assist businesses with filling it out.
“This is a perfect example of bureaucracy at its best,” he said. “It was a lot of process and paperwork … there was very little success in moving forward and what we have done is work closely with our partners at Environment and Parks and we have rewritten the application and the application process.”
Heseltine said the important thing is there is now a process that can be followed by both departments when a business is applying to access public lands. He also said a similar improvement is being worked on for accessing provincial parkland for tourism attraction development.
“There is a lot of greyness around what the process of obtaining access to parks for new business is and we want to work with Environment and Parks to clarify that and perhaps use this mechanism to do that,” he said.
He said the government has made it clear that being environmentally sensitive in developing attractions in ecologically significant areas is important. However, there is also a recognition that attraction development is needed to grow tourism revenues and parks play a role in reaching those targets.
“We are really making an effort to focus on entrepreneurs and working on that at a grassroots level,” Heseltine said.
The government has been working hard to get its Tourism Entrepreneurship Program and he said over 100 business ideas were pitched and the government hopes to work closely with 25 of them over the next year to help them develop.
Of course, the tourism division of the provincial government continues to fund events and attractions such as Winterstart alpine races at Lake Louise at the end of November. Heseltine said the signature event is an important one for Alberta because it is the first place where there is enough snow to host an alpine race that early in the season.
