The Department of Industry Tourism and Investment (ITI) celebrated the career of its longest-serving tourism operator last night and saluted the Northwest Territories’ 2018 Parks Hospitality Award winner.

Alex Hall’s recognition for the territories longest-service tourism operator comes as he ends a long, storied career sharing the magic of the Arctic with visitors from around the globe. He started Canoe Arctic in 1971.

Bruce Davidson, renowned as Prelude Bruce, is the Parks Operator at the Prelude Lake Territorial Park and Campground and this year’s Parks Hospitality Award winner.

The official recognitions came in the form of awards delivered by Wally Schumann, Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment at a gala dinner and award ceremony Thursday capping NWT Tourism’s (NWTT) annual Tourism Conference and AGM.

For the first time, an online public engagement campaign helped ITI’s parks division decide the winner of the Parks Hospitality Award. The campaign — a push for parks users to share their park stories and experiences and recommend a winner was done through ITI’s Have Your Say engagement portal and promoted on social media.

NWTT’s annual conference brings together tourism operators, hospitality providers, government, and community representatives from across the territory to learn, collaborate, innovate, and inspire. The awards gala celebrates excellence in tourism.

Quote

“Part of supporting our tourism industry is celebrating excellence within it, and encouraging talent to take the torch in the future. That’s what events like this are all about. I commend the winners on their hard work and dedication to our territory and parks and thank all tourism operators across the NWT who work hard to provide exceptional experiences to our visitors and are helping to build the tourism industry.”
-Wally Schumann, Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment

Quick Facts

• NWT Tourism is the GNWT’s Destination Marketing Organization
• For the first time, in 2017-18, over 110,000 visitors travelled to the NWT spending just over $203 million in the process.
• The engagement campaign to choose the Parks Hospitality Award attracted nearly 250 nominations representing 12 parks across the NWT.

Relevant links

• 200+ Spectacular Stories: Parks Operator of the Year Engagement Recap
• A Lifetime Sharing Our Arctic: Profile of Alex Hall, Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
• NWT Tourism AGM Information

For more information

Mike Westwick

Senior Communications Officer

Industry, Tourism and Investment

Mike_Westwick@gov.nt.ca

1-867-688-0958