There was a lot to celebrate for Canmore Business and Tourism at its annual general meeting this week.
President Andrew Nickerson and board chair Dan DeSantis both commented on the success of the organization, its staff and membership over the past year.
Nickerson said CBT is celebrating some “big wins” this year and especially the fact that Canmore’s presence in the tourism marketplace has grown exponentially.
“We have had a huge increase in awareness,” Nickerson said.
The inaugural Uncorked food festival was also a big win for the community, he said. Restaurants saw a 73 per cent increase year over year in business and hotel occupancy in April was up 18 per cent.
Nickerson said recent nominations for Canadian and Alberta tourism awards for the event means it was successful in being bold and building Canmore’s brand. He said it also puts the community at the forefront of culinary tourism.
“Culinary tourists are different than weekend warriors,” he said. “They end up spending a lot of money, which is exactly what we are looking for.”
Nickerson said CBT’s efforts will continue to focus on the shoulder seasons and winter months. He said tourism in summer is already healthy, so work will focus outside that period.
Financially, the organization has done a complete makeover since it had to inform members of a deficit position several years ago.
“We have come a long way in five years, when I had to stand up here and tell you about a deficit,” DeSantis said.
The 2013 audited financial statements showed the organization’s revenues were just over $2 million, up from $1.75 million the year before. With only $1.9 million in expenses – up from $1.6 million the year before, that left the destination marketing organization with an $85,000 surplus. With net assets from the year before of $250,000 – that puts CBT in a healthy financial position at the end of the year.
Auditor Joel Irwin from KPMG noted the increased revenues came from more funding to CBT from the Destination Marketing Fund (DMF), Travel Alberta and new contracts with the Downtown Business Association. The DMF is a voluntary group of hotels in Canmore and Kananaskis that put a levy on rooms to fund marketing the community.
“Funding is always a critical issue and we have had amazing support from DMF partners,” DeSantis said, adding CBT continues to investigate sustainable funding into the future.
CBT also saw numbers go up when it comes to social media and its website. This year so far it has seen 318,000 more likes, tweets and shares, a 140 per cent increase in followers, 130 per cent increase in website traffic and a 360 per cent increase in lead generation.
