Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to talk about the need for a convention bureau in the Northwest Territories. There is a strong need for our market to be looking towards that direction, to get out their campaign and draw in the meetings and conventions to the North.
In the past this type of discussion has led to the need for a convention centre here in Yellowknife, but it’s become more and more obvious that if you build it, they won’t necessarily come. So the convention centre idea has to be put on hold, but the foundation of any good and successful convention centre needs to be laid down by a convention bureau.
A convention bureau would be a simple marketing organization that would promote the Northwest Territories as a destination for meetings. It would target groups of tourism rather than tourists one at a time. I clearly see a role for the convention bureau to promote not only Yellowknife but for all regions across our North as places to meet. It would be about the whole North as the northern experience.
The cost of a convention bureau is minimal compared to the building of any convention centre, and at present hotels do not support any new infrastructure but certainly would support the establishment of developing a convention bureau. I suggest that the NWT convention bureau could operate under the existing NWT Tourism and they could help support their marketing campaign through someday, maybe, a hotel tax.
The convention bureau should target national associations, especially those ones that have NWT membership. The convention bureau circuit is a very competitive industry and I remind this House that the Northwest Territories is on the bucket list of so many Canadians across our country, why are we missing out on this opportunity?
The Yellowknife Hotel Association estimates that based on a single three-day convention of 300 delegates, it would generate close to $300,000 for that small period in our local economy. That’s new money. What a big bang for such a small investment. These funds could be used to attract more conventions for our northern communities and businesses.
We already have the human resources and infrastructure in place to develop a successful NWT convention bureau through the existing NWT Tourism office, so I guess the real question comes down to what’s stopping this from happening.
We don’t have to look far to our west to see our relentless campaigners in the Yukon who fight for every tourism dollar. I think it’s now our turn to step up to the plate and learn from the examples in the Yukon. I think strongly that we can do this.
