Travel Alberta hopes to grow tourism from a $7.8 billion to a $10.3 billion industry by 2020.
The target and new Alberta Tourism Framework were introduced to members of the industry at Travel Alberta’s annual general meeting in Banff on Monday (Oct. 28).
“Alberta’s tourism industry is complex, with many organizations involved,” said Minister of Tourism, Parks and Recreation Richard Starke. “Having a common plan will help us to align our efforts, maximize resources, make a stronger impact in the marketplace, diversify our economy and build Alberta.”
The new plan includes five priorities to boost the industry: innovation and development to create and enhance traveller-focused experiences around the province; accessibility to improve direct air access to Alberta; marketing directly at high potential markets; collaborating between all industry partners and using sound research to drive decisions and measure results.
“The success of the Alberta Tourism Framework will be a team effort of Travel Alberta, government and industry partners,” said Travel Alberta board chair Quincy Smith. “Travel Alberta is looking forward to working with all of our partners to realize the full potential of tourism in Alberta.”
The plan sets out key drivers, including that travellers seek experiences first and make the destination choice secondary, therefore tourism products and experiences must be refreshed and new authentic Alberta experiences created to address global competition. Furthermore, the framework sets out as a driver that streamlined access to Crown land for tourism must be in place and new tourism destination areas must be identified and developed.
“Our national parks must be enhanced as tourism destinations,” states the framework document. “Products must be upgraded, existing attractions and properties modernized, and trails and other tourism offerings developed to maintain the iconic status of the core attractions for Alberta.”
While provincial parks are also recognized as providing authentic tourism experiences, the framework goes on to suggest new sustainable experiences within mountain parks, new attractions near water, mountains or significant natural attractors must be developed.
Growing the tourism industry, according to the document, will rely heavily on collaboration between industry stakeholders and tourism organizations around the province. By aligning industry under one framework, Travel Alberta aims to foster development and marketing and grow the sector.
“All stakeholders must contribute to creating the framework, embrace the goal and key priorities, and the organizations representing those stakeholders must continually support their alignment around our tourism framework,” states the plan. “Communication efforts of the key catalyst organizations must be aligned in support of our key priorities, and individual organizations must be accountable for their results.”
