Mr. Speaker, tourism is the Northwest Territories’ largest renewable resource-based sector. Last year, approximately 76,000 tourists visited the territory – one of the highest visitor numbers we have seen in the last decade.
Today I would like to tell you about ways we have and will be improving our territorial parks and the positive outlook for our tourism industry.
To ensure an enjoyable experience in our territorial parks, we invest heavily in parks facilities and infrastructure. There is a new kitchen shelter situated closer to the waterfront at Fred Henne beach that is available to rent. At the Prelude Lake Territorial Park marina, more parking spaces are available. At Nitainlaii and Gwich’in Territorial Parks in the Beaufort Delta Region, new hiking trails have been developed. There is also a new shower building at Queen Elizabeth Territorial Park near Fort Smith.
Our efforts to promote our territorial parks and campgrounds and the investments we are making to improve these facilities are not going unnoticed. In early May, Fred Henne and Blackstone Territorial Parks were both included in the list of “Best Family Campgrounds in Canada” by Today’s Parent magazine.
Mr. Speaker, this year we launched a new online campground reservation system at NWTparks.ca. The new booking system makes reserving campsites quick and easy and multiple sites can be booked for different dates in one simple transaction. Campers can book double sites to guarantee they can camp together with their friends and families. The public response to the new website was overwhelming and over 1,000 online reservations were made the first day the site was open. We also conducted a direct mail campaign in early March to select households in Edmonton and Calgary with the result that visits to the NWT parks website escalated.
Families are major users of our territorial parks, and this year we embarked on an education and public awareness campaign to ensure the parks are fun and safe for families. We have launched a water safety campaign that will run throughout the summer in northern newspapers, on Moose FM 100 radio, on social media and on-screen at the Yellowknife Capitol Theatre. These ads promote the importance of being within arm’s reach of children who are swimming, wearing a lifejacket, and watching children near water.
These public awareness materials will be supplied to schools and daycares in Yellowknife and Hay River in the last two weeks of classes, and available at Fred Henne and Hay River Territorial Park beaches.
Emergency phone boxes will be available at Fred Henne and Hay River beaches. There is also new, easy-to-understand signage alerting beachgoers to safety hazards. With the assistance of local contractor, Mr. Trevor Kasteel, and other local businesses, we have installed a lifejacket loaner station at Fred Henne. Finally, we will be training our parks staff in basic emergency procedures.
These steps will ensure our territorial park beaches are among the safest in the country.
Mr. Speaker, territorial parks are just one part of a tourism sector that continues to grow stronger. I have received reports from our tour operators that the Aurora visitor statistics were very high again this past season. NWT Tourism, the destination marketing organization that the GNWT funds and works closely with, is doing solid work. Their new “Aurora Capital of the World” brand has gained us recognition around the world as the premiere Aurora viewing destination.
This year, we saw the number of Chinese visitors to the territory increase substantially again. The Northern Frontier Visitor Centre alone welcomed over 1,000 Chinese visitors in the first quarter of 2014.
Our outdoor adventure operators are also reporting increased bookings for the summer. These visitors are predominantly exploring the Sahtu and Dehcho Regions.
Mr. Speaker, the tourism industry plays a vital role in our economy and the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment is dedicated to seeing it thrive. Supporting the growth of tourism through investments into NWT parks and tourism infrastructure helps create a vibrant and diversified territorial economy, one of the goals of the 17th Legislative Assembly.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.