NWT Tourism is receiving $500,000 from the federal government for a two-year project designed to “expand international reach for Indigenous tourism.”
The announcement was made late last month. The money will come from economic development agency CanNor.
“This investment will help local and Indigenous businesses in the NWT to expand their reach with strengthened marketing, attracting new international visitors, and promote Indigenous tourism experiences to a wider market,” NWT MP Rebecca Alty was quoted as saying.
“The world is coming to Canada, and our government is making sure operators in the NWT have the resources they need to seize the opportunities before us.”
While no further detail about the project was included in the news release, NWT Tourism has described a recent surge in interest as the pandemic recedes in travellers’ memories.
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At a conference in April, NWT Tourism boss Donna Lee Demarcke said the group’s website now welcomes more than a million users per year, up from fewer than 600,000 two years ago.
“For us, that’s a huge indicator of the interest in our destination and we are seeing it in every aspect, all of our metrics,” Demarcke said at the time.
“The interest in the international markets, the interest in the US, the interest in Canada, it just keeps increasing, and I’m pretty excited about where we could potentially be going.”
That enthusiasm came despite Air Canada’s decision to cancel its direct service between Yellowknife and Toronto, which is due to end at the start of September. The route helped connect tourists from Germany, France and the UK to the NWT.
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Air North still serves the route, though seasonally for four months of the year.
Air Canada said the route had never been profitable. Demarcke, speaking to Cabin Radio in April, said the airline had altered the schedule multiple times, eventually running the flights only around weekends. According to Demarcke, NWT Tourism had told the airline a schedule like that was “not going to be successful.”
The June federal funding announcement also included cash for Yukon-based Nahanni Wilderness Adventures, among others.
The company receives up to $100,000 for a Peel watershed wilderness tourism expansion, which Ottawa said will be operated in partnership with Gwich’in firm Dinjii Zhuh Adventures.
