BARRHEAD - The County of Barrhead is the first municipality to join a new not-for-profit regional tourism marketing organization.
On Feb. 4, councillors unanimously approved a $1,000 unbudgeted expenditure to join the Northwest of 16 Regional Tourist Association following a presentation by two of its board members, Cindy Day, Ilse van Loon and Marvin Polis.
Cindy Day owns Lakeview Wedding and Events near Peanut Lake, van Loon is a photographer and has a farming operation with her husband in Tiger Lily. Marvin Polis owns a media production and consulting company in St. Albert.
The association's purpose is to promote sustainable tourism in the region.
Specifically, van Loon said the association wants to attract tourists from Edmonton and surrounding areas to the region.
Annual membership costs $50 for tourism operators and businesses, while municipalities pay $1,000.
"We are building a social media presence and are working on creating a website that should be ready to launch early this spring," she said.
van Loon added that the association plans to actively participate in area trade shows and provide a forum for area businesses to network and mentor each other.
The association is in its infancy, receiving its not-for-profit status in December. It has only a small group of tourism and business operators, stakeholders, and volunteers.
"Our goal is to get the region to work together, promote community, increase [the association's] membership, hire staff when funding becomes available, promote businesses, attract events like Open Farm Days, and have a board that listens to the needs of operators and assist them in promoting their businesses through brochures and a website, in the region," Day said.
In addition to joining, the delegation asked the county for any promotional materials the association could use to promote the region's sustainable tourism initiatives.
"By aligning our efforts, we can present a unified message that reflects the municipality's commitment to sustainability and the region's unique appeal to travellers and amplify our collective impact," van Loon said.
Deputy reeve Marvin Schatz asked how many members the association had and if they have or will be receiving any financial support from Travel Alberta.
Travel Alberta is the provincial government's destination management organization and Crown corporation.
Coun. Walter Preugschas, who also serves as the association's chair, reiterated that the association was in its infancy and had just started reaching out to tourism operators and municipalities.
Polis agreed but said they were off to a good start, adding the association had three sponsoring organizations, although he did not identify them.
Day added that several operators, including those based in Barrhead, Lac Ste Anne, and Woodlands counties, specifically Fort Assiniboine, signed up.
She also noted that, unfortunately, the association would not qualify for funding from Alberta Tourism until they had been in operation for two years.
Coun. Jared Stoik said that while he recognized the benefit of increasing tourism in the region, he questioned whether the municipality needed to be a member, suggesting that their membership and the association might be redundant.
"How many irons do we have for tourism right now? It seems like we have all these little avenues that we are taking. Although I like their presentation and the draft website, it does seem redundant," he said, suggesting it might be better for the municipality to consolidate its resources into one tourism initiative.
He referred to YOLO (You Only Live Once) Nomads and WILD Alberta, an offshoot of GROWTH Alberta.
County manager Debbie Oyarzun agreed there would be some small overlap between what the municipality creates to populate its own website and inform residents about its amenities; however, their purpose and focus were not the same as those of the associations.
The municipality joined YOLO Nomads in December 2023, hoping to increase interest in its Kiel Industrial Park and attract businesses and workers.
GROWTH Alberta, founded in 2001, is one of the province's nine regional economic development alliances (REDAs). Its purpose is to create economic growth through marketing.
GROWTH's membership roster was in the teens at once, but in recent years, that number has dwindled. It now has three members: Woodlands County, Swan Hills, and Mayerthorpe. Wild Alberta is the organization's tourism brand.
In May 2023, the county opted not to renew its GROWTH membership. However, Preugschas remained involved in WILD Alberta until it folded.
"This is replacing WILD," Preugschas said.
After the meeting, Preugschas said the association learned from Alberta WILD's failure.
"WILD was municipality-driven with tourism operators playing a subsidiary role," he said. "Northwest of 16 Tourism Association will be operator-driven with support from municipalities. Hopefully, that will make it more successful."
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
