Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the need for a convention bureau and the fact that I believe we could do more in attracting tourism from a convention marketing point of view. My questions would be to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment and I would like to ask him what work has been done by the Department of ITI in regards to establishing a tourism bureau. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Through our association with NWT Tourism, ITI has been actively engaged in promoting the Northwest Territories as a meeting and convention destination. The NWT Tourism has come out with a conference guide so that we promote all the communities in the North that have the capacity to host conventions.
I want to thank the Minister for that particular answer. The fact is that industry is concerned, that being people in the tourism industry as well as the hotel industry, and believe that more could be done. The Yukon is leading this particular type of initiative with a very focused convention bureau. There are hopes in the tourism industry that ITI could support a similar initiative and establish an office in the NWT Tourism office to target and market the North as a place to have conventions. Has the Minister considered that particular concept?
I think we’re talking semantics. NWT Tourism is actively promoting the Northwest Territories as a great place to host meetings and conventions. We’ve come out with a conference guide that has been endorsed by the Yellowknife Hotel Association and other tourism operators. They also promote all of their products through this process. I think NWT Tourism is already doing the work of a convention bureau.
I won’t say that the Minister is incorrect, but I’ll certainly say that I don’t necessarily quite agree with the perspective. What I would like to say is it’s more of a passive approach that’s taken right now, providing information as opposed to an active market campaign to get out there, whether talking to the CGA Association of Canada, by way of a simple example, or going out to other types of associations of similar manner and saying you’ve got 300 or 400 members, why don’t you schedule your 2015 conference in the Northwest Territories and we’ll build that.
I would agree that the Minister is correct, but I would define it more from a passive point of view. I’m suggesting a more active, focused point of view. Would the Minister be willing to support a position or marketing team that actively sought after conventions in an aggressive way to bring them here to the Territories?
I think the operative word is “actively engaged” and NWT Tourism is actively engaged in promoting Northwest Territories as a meeting and convention destination. Not only have we established a conference guide but we have it on our NWT Tourism website and communities in the Northwest Territories that have convention capacity and tourism products also spend resources in promoting their communities. As well, NWT Tourism attends conferences and shows on a regular basis to promote the Northwest Territories as a great place to have a conference.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My concern and the Minister’s answers are not necessarily so dissimilar, but there is a divide between the two particular issues. I can’t argue in the sense of saying that he’s incorrect about a booth at a convention, whatever convention it may or may not be that they happen to send someone to. There is a big difference between parking a booth and saying would you like to come to the Northwest Territories as opposed to calling organizations, challenging them and trying to see if we can actively meet their needs so they can draw their membership in a very active and aggressive way. That’s what I’m talking about. It’s slightly different but I think it’s very important. Would the Minister be willing to consider that concept and see if there’s any work done on that type of evaluation and see what the department could commit on achieving that type of goal?
As I said, we are actively engaged in attracting groups that come and host conferences in the Northwest Territories. That involves calling groups. I’ll pass this on to my Tourism Marketing Advisory Committee and see if they come to the same conclusion that we’re both talking about the same thing.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
