(Originally published in TOURISM)
Photo: Northwest Territories Tourism
With the Japanese market down these days, it is not surprising that Northwest Territories Tourism (NWT) director of marketing Ron Ostrom is looking elsewhere for growth. He finds solace that demand for outdoor adventures from German-speaking Europe is going strong, but the largest number of people coming to the NWT continues to be from Canada, followed by travellers from the US, Japan and Germany.
“In Canada, people come from Alberta, British Columbia and then Ontario,” Ostrum points out, while hinting at a renewed interest in the North as a result of the 2007 Canada Winter Games held in Whitehorse (a collaboration between Nunavut, the NWT and Yukon), which generated huge media exposure. “Border traffic was up this year for the first time in a while; people are actually driving up and checking things out. Our outdoor adventure market is definitely growing here as well. Because everything is long-haul coming here, the average visitor stay is usually a week. It may vary for business travellers,” he points out. “They make up a valuable segment of the industry, even if much of that is just the hotel stays. We are working harder to get people to stay longer and do more things.”
Ostrom says many visitors to the NWT often fly into Yukon, rent a vehicle and drive the Dempster highway to Inuvik. “It is a really big draw for us. Once they are here, Nahanni National Park and Fort Simpson have much appeal. Hay River is another popular destination, as is Wood Buffalo National Park on the south side of Great Slave Lake.”
Tourism is fast evolving in the NWT, according to Ostrom. “This past year was down a little, but overall it is growing. $100 million comes into the tourism industry here each year, which is considerable given our population of only 40,000 people. Budgets are increasing for marketing and tourism product development; there is a lot going on, but obviously - because we have diamond mining and oil and gas - the industry is still not a top priority.”
Outdoor adventure and business markets have the greatest potential, he says. “Aurora tourism is well suited for the domestic market, and it is starting to expand now to North America.” Ostrom is concentrating marketing efforts especially in Alberta.
Northwest Territories Tourism is putting greater emphasis on high yield markets, he explains, “because of the cost of vacations up here. We have been going after the wealthy boomers and the active escapist market in some key geographic pockets in Toronto, Los Angeles and New York.”
Not surprisingly, this coincides with some of the Canadian Tourism Commission targets. “We are coming in after the CTC campaigns to capitalize on some of the exposure the CTC is already getting, but we develop our own print and web advertising.”
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