Travel Drumheller sees potential in a recent round of new funding to help support tourism infrastructure.
On November 8, the Alberta Government introduced Bill 30: Investing in a Diversified Alberta Economy Act. This rolled out two proposed tax credits. This includes the Capital Investment Tax Credit, which would offer a 10 per cent non-refundable tax credit of up to $5 million to Alberta Companies involved in manufacturing, processing and tourism infrastructure.
Alyssa Berry, of Travel Drumheller says their organization has had some discussions about the proposal.
“The next step is we are going to look at how, as an organization, how operators locally can access some of these tax credits and what that exactly looks like,” said Berry. “It’s a good step for the government to do that and obviously tourism is a big economic driver in the province.”
“It makes sense that with tourism being such a big economic driver tourism would be looked at in the forefront of diversifying the economy.”
Travel Drumheller is looking forward to the coming season. Last year it took time to work on building its brand story and focusing on its goals.
“Our key 2017 initiatives are creating a better communication infrastructure between our stakeholders and really increasing the level of stakeholder engagement between Travel Drumheller and local tourism operators and educate around the tourism industry and what it means,” said Berry. “We are looking at hosting a few networking events.”
They are also looking at professional development for operators such as customer service or creating marketing plans.
“We really want to be more connected and create more opportunities for learning and professional development and be the leader in that,” he said.
Marketing wise, they have a new focus of storytelling. To that end, the 2017 tourism guide will be revamped as more of a magazine sized publication focusing on storytelling. This is complemented by a new updated website and digital guide that can be leveraged through social media.
“The next step is to get Travel Drumheller integrated into the digital landscape, which in 2016-2017, is definitely important as an organization. We need to have a greater presence in the digital landscape, not just through social media but content creation,” said Berry.
Going forward, they are targeting their marketing to the shoulder season. The key targets they are looking at are families as well as the millennial market.
“Millennials want to focus on what is new, what is interesting, what is different. And we want to create experiences in those areas, especially since that demographic will travel in these shoulder season,” said Berry.
