Baffin park named third best in Canada
Auyuittuq National Park gets promotional boost from travel website
Casey Lessard
Northern News Services
Published Monday, January 12, 2015
PANNIQTUUQ/PANGNIRTUNG
Auyuittuq National Park, located between Pangnirtung and Qikiqtarjuaq, could see many more visitors this year after Canadian travel website vacay.ca named it the number three destination to visit in Canada this year. Toronto was named the place to visit in 2015, and Revelstoke, B.C., placed second.
Nunavut's Auyuittuq National Park was named the number three place to visit in Canada in 2015 by travel
website vacay.ca. - photo courtesy of Christian Kimber/Nunavut Tourism |
"We think it's fantastic," said Karen Petkau, visitor experience manager for the Nunavut Field Unit of Parks Canada. "We think that Auyuittuq is a crowning jewel in Parks Canada's family of parks. Auyuittuq has stunning cliffs and mountains and just has a stark beauty to it."
Auyuittuq beat out heavyweights Vancouver (4), Jasper, Alta., (6), Montreal (8), Quebec City (12), and many more in a vacay.ca list of Canada's top 20. Dawson City, Yukon, was the only other Northern destination on the list, ranking 18th.
The park made the list for 2012, placing seventh. The number of visitors rose that year but wasn't sustained. In 2010-11, the park saw 375 visitors; in 2011-12, 487; in 2012-13, 392; and last year, 431. Visitors hiking the pass must pay a fee of $147.20. A day pass is $24.50.
"We think Canadians should make an effort to get there this year," said vacay.ca deputy editor Rod Charles, noting the list was compiled by the travel writers who contribute to the website. "The territories are places people want to get to. Other places are easier to get to, and get more publicity."
The people in charge of tourism in the territory are pleased with the ranking.
"We're excited about the promotion of the Arctic," said Kevin Kelly, Nunavut Tourism's director of member and visitor services. "It's an amazing hike through the park, stunning visuals that people come back in droves for."
Although Nunavut Tourism provides junkets for journalists, the ranking did not stem from any such promotional trip, Kelly said, and Nunavut Tourism did not spend any money.
One Ocean Expeditions, which took part in the search for the lost Franklin Expedition ships, was linked to the park in the website's review.
"The discovery of a lost ship from the ill-fated Franklin Expedition is without question one of the greatest historical finds in Canadian history and a key reason why you need to put Baffin Island's Auyuittuq National Park on your list of places to visit in 2015," the site reads. "Also, you could be a part of history. You and your shipmates will no doubt be on the lookout for the HMS Terror, which is still out there somewhere."
Visitors planning a trip to Auyuittuq should consider, though, that Pangnirtung is about 1,300 km – about the distance from Ottawa to Halifax – from Gjoa Haven, which was the last known location of the ships (the exact location of the discovery has not been made public). Commercial flights between the hamlets require a stop in Yellowknife. Also, One Ocean does not have any availability on ships that go to both Auyuittuq and the Northwest Passage.
Ignoring these details, visitors have plenty of cause to book a trip.
"Auyuittuq National Park protects 19,089 square kilometres of glacier-scoured terrain and is 85 per cent rock and ice," the review states. "You will find raw nature at its best – dark, grey mountains, glaciers, rivers and ice. Auyuittuq is an Inuktitut word meaning 'land that never melts,' but the scenery and down-to-earth people just may melt your heart."
"We've seen our list impact tourism," Charles said. "We've been good at spotting what people should pay attention to. We have great hopes and dreams for Nunavut."
