Tourism industry hopes Manitobans explore near home

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/05/2020 (2150 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With many COVID-19 pandemic restrictions still in place and the American border still closed, national and provincial tourism organizations are hoping Manitobans will be tourists this summer in a place closer to home.

Colin Ferguson, president and chief executive officer of Travel Manitoba, said he’s hoping Manitoba gets “some love” from its residents after spending weeks indoors, and maintaining physical distancing.

“The tourism industry was probably one of the first hit, and it may be one of the last to come out of it,” Ferguson said Monday.

“But there’s good news on the horizon. In 2019, Manitoba was recognized by Lonely Planet as one of the top 10 places in the world to visit — that’s extraordinary recognition. We have an amazing province, and this is your opportunity to… give your province some love.”

It’s the message that will be delivered today, during a virtual town hall between Travel Manitoba, the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada, Destination Canada, as well as with industry representatives.

Gloria Loree, chief marketing officer for Destination Canada, a federal Crown corporation which markets the country internationally and provides research to help the visitor economy, said data shows Manitoba is in a good position for summer tourism.

Loree said 44 per cent of Manitobans say they will welcome visitors from nearby communities, while 36 per cent are in favour of tourists coming from other parts of the province.

“That’s up from probably zero earlier in the pandemic,” she said. “And you have 1.3 million people in Manitoba. People are tentative about making their plans, but you have a population base you can work with.”

Loree said it is important, from a tourism standpoint, for businesses to reopen to generate revenue from travellers as quickly as they can.

“Seventy to 80 per cent of revenue is made of the income in the third quarter,” she said. “This year, communities will realize just how much the visitor means to their economy, both in social and cultural (terms).”

Even though the festivals and fairs which help entice people to communities in southern Manitoba have either been cancelled or shifted to a digital platform, there are other ways to attract people, Loree said.

“People are finding new ways of doing things; you can see it when people sing from their balconies or walk their dog past a retirement home so they can wave at people,” she said. “There’s so much innovation there.”

Ferguson said industry members know this will be a different year for Manitobans and travel.

“People want to get back to some form of normalcy,” he said. “When I was very young, travel in the 1950s was very family-oriented. You did it in automobiles. I expect a lot of that will happen this year.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca