Travel Drumheller has come out of a year of strategizing and planning, ready for the upcoming tourism season.
Travel Drumheller held its annual general meeting at the Badlands Community Facility, on Thursday, October 6. Board member for Travel Drumheller, Carrie Ann Lunde, laid out the future vision of the destination marketing organization.
“This year it was time to look critically at who we were and what our purpose was. This included making the decision to put an advertising campaign on hold until we had a strategic direction and visual identity in order to make the best use of dollars for effective marketing,” said Lunde.
Part of the changes this year included developing a strategic plan with a new vision, employing a marketing agency to take the vision and develop a brand strategy, and develop a campaign for this coming year.
This includes developing its social media strategy, updating its website and publishing its travel guide.
To build this vision, Lunde explained the board sat down with Alberta Tourism and Culture and Tourism to discuss the purpose and vision of the group and develop specific goals.
“For marketing, this meant developing a brand strategy awareness campaign, develop and execute a marketing plan and increase tourist engagement,” she said.
From this, they developed the vision statement, “Drumheller is a sought-after tourism destination in Alberta,” and its mission is to “Promote Drumheller as a premier year-round destination through quality marketing and stakeholder engagement.”
Board chair Dan Sullivan said the initial years of Travel Drumheller have been challenging.
“I want to recognize a very committed board of directors, many who have been part of this project right from the beginning, who faced any challenge that was thrown at us head on, and systematically worked through everything that was thrown in their direction,” he said. “This group has never really lost sight of the vision we all have for making Drumheller an iconic tourism destination in Alberta, further than that, in Canada. Drumheller is not just on the radar in Alberta, it’s really on the Canadian radar with two high quality historic sites in the areas and the unique nature of who we are.”
He said the struggles of Travel Drumheller gave them the opportunity to take control of its destiny.
“What we are accomplishing is going to show a great dividend down the road,” he said.
There were three board directors elected at the meeting. Cindie Hughes of Quality Hotel returned to the board and Barb Steeves of the East Coulee School Museum and Jay Russell of the Atlas Coal Mine are new directors.
