Trekkers test trail’s ecotourism potential
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/09/2011 (5134 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A volunteer group is the first bunch of trekkers to try out a new commercial tourism package for the eastern Manitoba portion of the Trans-Canada trail.
About seven volunteers from the Manitoba Recreational Trails Association are teaming up with Jim Bishop, chairman of the national Trans-Canada Trail Thursday for a four-day, 225-kilometre tour from Pine Falls to Falcon Lake by bike and shuttle.
“You build it, you want to use it,” said Ruth Marr, a volunteer who was instrumental in getting the section of the trail in shape. “We’re having an opportunity to test some of the economic spinoffs from the trail.”
There will be stops at resorts along the way and meet-and-greets with local business people.
The trail association is a network of volunteers who raise money to maintain the Trans-Canada Trail. Now, for the first time in Manitoba, the network is sharpening up its commercial focus with an eye to build up eco-tourism.
The brains behind the commercial venture is Roy Hildebrand, co-founder of WE Hike and Bike, an ecotourism venture based in Pinawa.
“The Border to Beaches trail is a dynamic asset right in our backyard,” he said. “What the MRTA has done is provide a link, a network, for everyone who associated with the trail and there are seven groups along Borders to Beaches, local business people. We want to engage them and promote their sections.”
Based at the Wilderness Edge Retreat and Conference Centre in Pinawa, WE is setting up weekend tour packages, ranging from $300 to $500, to launch next spring.
Border to Beaches is a 370-kilometre portion of the Trans-Canada Trail, which at more than 22,000 kilometres from coast to coast to coast, is the world’s largest network of trails.
Manitoba’s portion of the trail, including this stretch, is 1,400 kilometres long.
Border to Beaches traces its route from the sandy post-glacial landscape of Lake Winnipeg’s beaches to the rocky Canadian Shield and boreal forests of eastern Manitoba. The trail runs through three provincial parks, Old Pinawa Dam, Grand Beach and Whiteshell.
Provincial tourism agency Manitoba Travel, sees eco-tourism as a perfect fit to showcase the province’s wilderness and resorts.
“It’s the kind of thing we’ve been advocating. The province has invested a considerable amount in building the trail and it has tourism potential, as well as recreational potential, but that tourism potential hasn’t been realized. So when I look at a up-start company that will put the pieces together, it presents a huge opportunity,” Manitoba Travel official Wayne Copet said.