The recent tourism town hall at Red Deer Resort & Casino. (Tourism Red Deer/Rachel Henry)

By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

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The spring and summer tourism season is upon us here in Alberta, and there are many folks excited about what it can yield for the region and province.

That includes Jesse Smith, CEO at Tourism Red Deer, which hosted a town hall event this week in collaboration with Travel Alberta, Indigenous Tourism Alberta, Tourism Industry Association Alberta, and WestJet.

The theme of the town hall was ‘Cultivating Collaboration.’

“There are a lot of people working in the tourism sector or the visitor economy who have great ideas, and there are many operators, attractions and venues out there, so the question is how do we all work together to make sure that when people are in our community, everybody has the opportunity to benefit?” says Smith, who took over as CEO last summer.

“It was really great to see people at the town hall be so optimistic about where we’re going as a region. Seeing the commitment to collaboration is a really good feeling. Now, we need everyone to come together and make sure we’re promoting our region and all we have to offer. We need to be less humble about where we live and tell our story in a better way.”

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Among other things, Smith notes upcoming events and attractions like the coaster at Canyon Ski Resort, the many kilometres of trails and the river valley within Red Deer, national softball competition coming to Blackfalds, and the National BMX Championship coming to town.

Tourism Red Deer also continues its work as a new ‘destination management organization.’

Additionally, Smith says they’d really like community members to let them know about events to add to their comprehensive calendar at visitreddeer.com.

Meantime, Alberta’s Minister of Tourism and Sport, Joseph Schow, recently helped observe National Tourism Week (April 15-19). Schow believes the province’s tourism industry could reach new heights this year.

“We are building upon the record year seen by our visitor economy in 2022, which resulted in $10.7 billion in visitor spending – up $600 million from 2019 levels. The most recent data from 2023 shows that we remain on the right track, especially when it comes to international tourism,” he said in a statement last week.

“In the first three quarters of 2023, international visitor spending has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, reaching $2.53 billion, compared to $2.28 billion in international visitor spending for all of 2019. This increase is also more than double the $1.24 billion in international spending that we saw in 2022.”

Two months ago, he notes, the UCP launched a long-term tourism strategy to chart a path for future growth. The goal is grow the visitor economy to one worth $25 billion in visitor spending by 2035.

In conversation with rdnewsNOW, Schow was asked about what the latest is on Alberta’s provincial parks, and how they factor into the tourism sector.

Parks are part of Forestry and Parks minister’s portfolio, but they do have a role to play in tourism, Schow explains.

“We need to be able to explore more of them in a responsible and sustainable way. With our tourism strategy, a large part of it is development within Alberta’s landscape which includes Crown land and parks, so that people can go out there, enjoy the pristine landscapes, hiking, fishing and kayaking, and do it in a responsible and sustainable way,” Schow says.

“Having a government-led and industry-informed strategy helps us get there, and better understand what local communities want to see. We’re not just imposing our strategy, we’re working collaboratively.”

In addition to a new camping reservation site which launched in February, recent years have seen the Opposition NDP call on the UCP to not close certain parks. There’s also been debate on whether to keep or scrap the Kananaskis Conservation Pass, but those are subjects for another day.

The minister believes too that attracting international travellers back to Alberta is key.

“The biggest piece of getting them back is our ability to develop new products in the province, and that’s a lot of what our strategy is based on — expanding what we already have. We also need WestJet’s help, as one of our flagship carriers, [and we need the] development of new direct flights into Alberta from international destinations,” says Schow, noting this has happened recently with South Korea and Japan.

“We [want more] flights from the U.K., Italy, France and Germany, and international travellers want more Alberta. They want more Alberta product. When we talk about the five pillars, that means [things such as] wanting more Indigenous tourism and more access to the mountains.”

The work with communities includes that of developing more made-in-Alberta product, he adds.

“We are grateful that airline partners like WestJet are expanding and we are grateful that entrepreneurs are developing products,” he says. “I think the sky’s the limit.”

More information about Alberta’s tourism strategy can be found here.

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