LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
A number of tourism-related businesses in Fort Simpson have recently committed to work together to market the village and draw in more visitors.

Jackie Frederick, at the front of the room, of the Hotkey Marketing Group led a tourism package development workshop in Fort Simpson on behalf of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and Northwest Territories Tourism Feb. 27 to 28. The workshop resulted in the creation of two packages that local companies have agreed to jointly deliver and market. - photo courtesy of Douglas Dillon

Owners representing approximately 11 businesses, including airlines, accommodations, lodges and restaurants, participated in a tourism package development workshop held by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI) and Northwest Territories Tourism in the village Feb. 27 to 28. Before the first day of the workshop was over, the business owners had already developed and committed to working together on, and promoting, a two-night winter package that incorporates services offered by a number of local companies.

The package, which will cost the same regardless of which of the participating in-town accommodations the customer stays at, includes two nights of accommodations, breakfast, a snowmobile tour, Northern lights watching, a locally-produced gift and a picnic lunch. The opportunity to upgrade and go on an aerial sightseeing tour with one of the local airlines will also be stressed when customers book the package.

After the first package was agreed to, a second was quickly created geared toward promoting the out-of-town lodges, including the North Nahanni Naturalist Lodge and potentially the Nahanni Mountain Lodge. With two packages created and local companies committing to work together, the workshop fulfilled its purpose.

Fort Simpson is the third community the workshop has been run in. Tourism packages have already been developed in Inuvik, Hay River and Deline, said Richard Zieba, the director of tourism and parks for ITI.

The workshops are designed to bring people working in the tourism sector in a community together to create a package for potential visitors. This approach is needed because there is such a wide range of businesses that are related to tourism from airlines to lodges, he said.

"It takes a lot of co-operation to move the industry forward," Zieba said.

It's also difficult for small businesses to do marketing and bookings on their own.

"We see it as a good model to develop tourism," he said.

"We see the struggle that individual businesses have."

The packages incorporate the community's culture, special events and services that are already offered.

"The whole idea is not to create anything new, but to take advantage of the existing strengths of the community," he said.

The workshop and the co-operation that was quickly reached has inspired some of the participants.

"Personally I thought it was awesome," said Lois Martin, the owner of Mackenzie Rest Inn.

"I was really excited about it."

Martin said she is enthusiastic about the concept of developing shared packages that will help draw more tourists to the area. The workshop showed that all of the businesses want to add things that will improve the experiences tourists have, she said.

Having been inspired by the support shown at the workshop, Martin is moving ahead with some ideas she'd already considered including purchasing a boat to take visitors fishing in the summer and developing a dog team to offer dog sled rides. The activities could be added to this or future packages, she said.

It was great to see business owners come together and collaborate, without much debate, on something that will promote the region, said Ria Letcher, the co-owner of the North Nahanni Naturalist Lodge.

"We all have a common purpose to promote the community and to make money at it," she said.

The workshop provided a good overview of the resources that each business has. The North Nahanni Naturalist Lodge has agreed to provide the snowmobile tour and Northern lights viewing portion of the two-day package.

"Collectively we can do a lot more than one person trying to do it all," said Letcher.

The package is aimed at mid-February to mid-April, which is a slow time for the lodge. It is in the business community's interest to be creative as possible, potentially with more packages, to promote the seasons when there is less tourism traffic, she said.

"We have more winter than we have summer," said Letcher.

Letcher said it will be easy to promote the packages.

"People are always looking for a new product," she said.