Tourism Estevan is promoting opportunities regarding Destination Development Strategy within the province.
Darcy Acton, an industry development strategist with Tourism Saskatchewan, was in Estevan on Nov. 8 to discuss the concept during the Estevan Chamber of Commerce’s Coffee Talk initiative.
The strategy is an interesting concept, according to Carol Lumb, who works in destination and workforce development with Tourism Saskatchewan.
“We contracted a couple of companies who combined their forces to work with Tourism Saskatchewan to develop a strategy not for Tourism Saskatchewan, but for tourism in Saskatchewan, in terms of where we need to go in order to maximize opportunities for the visitor economy in this province,” said Acton.
They came back with what they fell is a comprehensive research base for a direction over the next 10 years, with the theme of Delivering on the Promise.
“We promise, when we do our marketing through Tourism Saskatchewan and other initiatives that people market out there, that this is a place to come and visit, that you’ll have great experiences, but we need to do some work to ensure that it’s what actually happens,” said Lumb.
There is a focus on markets in eastern Canada, the U.S. and other countries, because they usually spend more than people who currently reside in the province, or in other provinces in close proximity to Saskatchewan.
“The further out you go, the more people spend, which makes perfect sense,” said Lumb.
Communities like Estevan and others in southeast Saskatchewan stand to benefit because Tourism Saskatchewan wants to promote markets other than Regina and Saskatoon, which already have a fairly buoyant tourism industry.
In the case of Estevan, there could be a number of attractions and products that could be developed that could be agriculture or industry-based.
“Even if people do come here for a more leisure-focused type of experience, there is still opportunity to do other things as well,” said Lumb. “There’s a real interest, I think, in people for knowledge, for experiences they might not get anywhere else, a community or a city, has some of those that they can actually take a look at.”
Examples of an attraction or an experience might be a protein museum. It wouldn’t require the construction of infrastructure, either, she said.
“What about taking a look at where there are already plans related to some of the protein that we are known for? We can have superclusters in protein industries,” said Lumb. “So perhaps it’s going to be an agricultural tour that in fact can be a mobile museum, where you might go and visit a number of plants or the kinds of things that already exist here that are new innovations and state of the art technologies that tell a story.”
Another example might be a dark skies observatory. A lot of people have a keen interest in that concept.
“There are already some dark skies that happen around Cypress Hills, where they have events associated with meteor showers and some of those things. We can even take that further and really try to make our mark as far as being some of the best dark skies in the world.”
She also cited the example of Carrot River, which has branded itself as Saskatchewan’s Outback, and had some great ideas that are creative and innovative that even incorporate winter.
An outfitter might want to take the experience beyond hunting season. The infrastructure might already be in place, but in order to take it to another level, partners will be needed to expand or change.
“You need some kind of an experience that is different, that people might not get anywhere else, and that takes time, because you need to find partners who want to work with you,” she said.
While the Destination Development Strategy is in its infancy, people have been pretty receptive to the concept. People are excited about the potential, but it takes time to build some of these things.
“You don’t turn a switch on overnight, and have a completed experience. There’s a lot of work and partnerships that need to be built,” said Lumb.
