Thank you, Mr. Chair. In regard to a tourism development officer and understanding the 51 plus the six that are coming in, has the department looked at expanding tourism outside Yellowknife? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The NWT TTA marketing strategy is a panterritorial initiative, and they are looking at all regions of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister for his answer. Can he explain to us why the government or this organization bought 150 tickets to Yellowknife and not anywhere else to promote tourism? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Deputy Minister Jensen.
The 150 Secrets Campaign is part of a broader strategy, a panterritorial strategy. NWT Tourism, as I understand it, worked with a carrier, Air Canada, and that is how they worked out the 150 flights. There are going to be 10 flights beyond Yellowknife as part of the super prizes, so it is not just for Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister Jensen. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the deputy minister for his answer. These 10 super flights, wherever they are going, can the Minister or the deputy minister please advise this House where these super flights are going and what airline are they using outside of Yellowknife? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are not sure which airline they are going to use outside of that. NWT TTA is their own organization, and they made the decisions around this. If the Member would like, we could probably check with them and see what they are doing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to get that information from the Minister, so I thank him for his commitment to getting that information to me. I guess my next question is: we are bringing 150 people into the territories; has the government worked with the tourism organization to expand it outside the region, to promote the Nahanni, the Delta and that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am not sure if the Member is zeroing in on the 150 or the NWT TTA's initiative moving forward. If he is talking about the NWT TTA and then moving forward, they have their regional marketing initiative that they do. The ITI regional offices are also doing this. The Beaufort Delta, the Sahtu region, the Deh Cho region, North Slave Region, South Slave region are all working on different aspects of that, and then they also have special marketing initiatives within the department, as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for his answer. My question is: is the tourism association working with the government, working hand in hand to promote tourism across this great territory of ours? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess, to be clear, we made a contribution to NWT TTA. They pull their own board together from across the Northwest Territories to represent all the regions. They put together their regional marketing plans, territorial marketing plans, and how they are going to move the tourism initiative forward in the Northwest Territories. As the Ministry of ITI, we have a broad overview of what they do, but they pretty much run their NWT TTA as a totally separate entity. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Next, we have Mr. McNeely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. When I look at this particular department in the activities and the numbers written out there and allotted for different designations directed to tourism and parks operations, tour operators, and when I go back and look at the statement made by the same Minister here on November 2nd of last year, making reference to "between the year 201011 and 201516, the number of visitors to our territory has increased from 65,000 to 93,000 visitors; spending in this timeframe has also increased from $94.1 million to $167.1 million," I would say we are trying our best efforts, and that is a pretty good show on return.
The isolated region of the Sahtu wouldn't mind to get in on this glorified economy here, seeing that we have a number of attractions. Having a few hunters coming off the plane and coming back on the plane with their antlers, and a few paddlers down the Mackenzie River, is not going to cut it as far as contributing to tourism potential and sustaining some of the potential operators that do exist in that region, so therefore, when I look underneath budget allowances for community tourism infrastructure at $200,000, skills development, purchased services, I would like to work closely with this department on the allowances budget to look at producing results from the Deline destination brochure initiative that the Deline Got'ine Government has produced.
There are very similar attractions in Deline as there are here, so there is room for potential and room for that visitor market. In flight, it is only an hour and a half, an hour and 20 minutes from here, so there is some supported documentation to say that the Sahtu could realize this industry sector potential.
My only question is: what supports would these budgetary figures do for the Deline destination? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, when you look on this page, I believe all regions can all tap in and benefit on a whole bunch of different things. The community tourism infrastructure one is one where all Aboriginal governments and organizations, like is listed there, can apply to it. That is one way to tap into doing that. The tourism skills development, that is going to be done in all regions this year in the Northwest Territories. The Sahtu region can also tap into the Tourism Product Diversification Program. Last year, I believe we helped the Sahtu region reprint the Canol Trail guidebook, as well as a number of cooperative advertising campaigns with their local tourism operators that are in the Sahtu. I think I had a number of questions in the House this week. Communities can apply on having the tourism community advisor in each community. So there's a number of different initiatives to help the communities in all regions in the Northwest Territories to try to tap into the full potential of the tourism industry in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. McNeely.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Looking back at the November 2nd presentation here it refers to "Tourism 2020: Opening our Spectacular Home to the World to View." This five-year strategy is our government's plan for creating a $207 million-a-year industry by the year 2021. So that's the given target and the given objectives, and now I see on this budget it's supported by the number of $400,000. So I'm glad to hear that there is a plan and it's supported by the resources in order to implement that initiative. So it's more of a comment, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. One thing about that document, we had a number of stakeholders involved in it as well. I'm proud to say that this is one of the few industries that we're diversifying the economy in the Northwest Territories that's having great success. As I've said earlier today, the amount of money that we're putting in there, you see in this line item of $5,453,000, is a great investment in the culture and the people in the Northwest Territories and the programs and operators of the NWT. So it's one part of the department I'm very proud of. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Any further questions from committee? Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My interest is in terms of page 211, the community tourism infrastructure and to the bottom of tourism, the various initiatives in the range of at least $5.5 million for this initiative. So I'm just trying to understand just how many territorial parks that we might have in the NWT. I understand, like, in my riding there are six territorial parks, so I just wanted to understand whether this department has a figure in terms of the total territorial parks that exist in the NWT? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. For all the parks in the Northwest Territories, counting staff and contractors and stuff, we spend about $5 million annually. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Specifically the question I was asking is: what is the total of the number of territorial parks that we have? I understand territorial parks would mean we have day-use areas, we have campgrounds. For example, in the Deh Cho riding we have Twin Falls and parks and then we have Lady Evelyn Falls campgrounds and then we have on the Kakisa River we have a day-use area. So I just wanted to know how many of those facilities that we have across the NWT? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We don't have that exact number at our fingertips, but I believe we have 17 parks in the NWT. As for the other day-use parks and stuff, we'd have to get that, so we'll get those numbers together for the Member. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair; that's good to know. The reason why I'm asking is, if maybe a community or a region were interested in perhaps establishing a park, is there any criteria set or are there any factors to be considered that ITI perhaps would consider in discussions with communities in terms of future parks that could be possibly expanded? What would be the factors or criteria that determine if a park could be established? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If a community was interested in establishing or expanding an existing park, I'm sure we're willing to sit down and have a look at it, and if it fits into our long-term plans we would certainly be welcome to have that conversation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm just trying again to understand the efforts towards tourism. I mean, generally the initiatives that this department has undertaken are very constructive in terms of dialoguing with the communities and trying to take an opportunity of the tourism industry, but inevitably there could be the unintentional disparities between the concentration of resources say in Yellowknife, other regions, or the communities. So I'm just trying to understand.
The Minister had indicated at least the total amount for tourism and parks is $5.5 million. Is there an understanding of how much is designated for pan-territorial initiatives like the Tourism 2020 initiative? How much of the total of $5.5 million is designated for regions and how much of that is targeted for community initiatives? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If we go to page 210, so operations expenditures is $14.7 million, roughly, for operations and expenditures of parks; $5 million of that, I believe, is for parks alone. Tourism initiatives is one point --
Eight million.
-- $8,192,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to maybe get the Minister to maybe just repeat that. He indicated that there's $5 million designated towards parks, and am I correct, $8 million towards tourism initiatives? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, that's exactly what I said. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Nadli.
