Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the other day in my Member's statement I talked about tourism and how tourism supports our goal of building a diversified economy. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I would like to ask the Minister if the Minister can explain how and how much is ITI investing in tourism promotion in 2017-18. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think someone asked me this question yesterday, possibly. We invest roughly $5.5 million through grants and contributions and transfers to many tourism initiatives, including NWT tourism, Convention Bureau, Northern Frontier Visitors Centre, and Tourism Product Diversification Program and Tourism 2020. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for his reply two days in a row. Much appreciated. As it relates to diversifying the economy, Mr. Speaker, my next question is to the Minister: what is the department doing to make it easier for potential owner/operators, or anyone for that matter, to enter into the tourism sector?
ITI has, right off the bat, the tourism diversification marketing program. This is available to provide funding to the operators to do research, identify market needs, and develop products, as well as promote new markets in the tourism industry. We also have upped our staff resources in the North Slave region to address the licensing issues and increasing park maintenance because of more pressure of using these facilities. We also have staffing under way for a new tourist development officer starting in 2017-18.
Thank you to the Minister for his reply. My next question has a little bit of an Education Department component to it, but it more lies within the importance of the industry of tourism. I would like to know if the Minister could maybe explain to us what the department is doing, maybe in conjunction with other departments, as it relates to developing curriculum that we can infiltrate into our education system so those who have an interest in wanting to get into the tourism industry, whether it is food and beverage or fisheries or what have you, have an opportunity to learn about this industry in advance. Can the Minister please provide us with what the department is doing for education opportunities with regard to tourism?
HON. WALLY SCHUMANN: When it comes to education and tourism, one of the things that comes to mind, right off the bat, is we have the business youth mentorship program that we have introduced. That is a line item that I believe we have roughly $170,000 in the budget for. We are also focusing on risk management and safety training for our outfitters and potential new outfitters to help them reduce their risk around insurance
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for his reply. Mr. Speaker, finally, can the Minister tell us, Tourism 2020 recommends developing a large number of programs and resources like a welcoming program, an elders-in-residence program, and tourism guide books, to name a few. What progress are we making on these initiatives? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe, on Tourism 2020, we are making quite a bit of progress on a lot of different initiatives. We have just announced the new community tourism coordinator program to advance regional product development and packaging. We are focusing on risk management training, like I just mentioned, in the NWT for tourism operators. We continue to deliver community tours and infrastructure contributions to encourage development of community tourism infrastructure across the Northwest Territories. There are many initiatives under the Tourism 2020 plan, which was there to replace the previous two five-year plans. These things are moving ahead. As everyone knows in this House, tourism is the highlight of our economy moving forward. There is great expansive growth there. We will continue to support it.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
