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 Adventure and eco-tourism sector specialist Jaida Ohokannoak, left, goes over a development exercise with Coral Harbour outfitter Silu Connelly during a recent Kivalliq Product Development Workshop in Rankin Inlet. - Photo courtesy of Kelly Lewis |
Kelly Lewis is an accommodations and corporate travel sector specialist for Nunavut Tourism.
Lewis says both new and established outfitters lack the understanding of how to create a packaged product that can be sold to the tourist or tour wholesaler.
A successful outfitter needs to have a working knowledge of costing out a package, pricing for both retail and wholesale markets and dealing effectively with tour operators, he says.
"Basically, the workshop was geared at showing the outfitters where their costs are in doing business, and how to come up with a price that reflects that in order for them to make a profit," says Lewis.
"A lot of Kivalliq outfitters deal with Southern booking agents and just throw a number at them.
"Hopefully, they left the workshop with a working understanding of how to come up with a tourism product, the costs associated with that product, and how to build a profit margin into it so they come out of it with a price they can work with," he says.
Nunavut Tourism helps Kivalliq outfitters sell their services across Canada, the United States and overseas.
Promote what is there
Lewis says two similar workshops were held in the Baffin region in 2003 and the Kivalliq program hopes to build on their success.
"There are many attractions here, including some of the most breathtaking scenery in the world, but they have to be properly developed and promoted," says Lewis.
"We have a number of activities that appeal to a wide range of tourists, including dog sledding, caribou hunting and even nature hikes."
The Kivalliq Product Development Workshop was organized by Nunavut Tourism and funded through Kivalliq Partners in Development.
The workshop was facilitated by Iqaluit's Paul Landry, a former director of programs at the Canadian Outward Bound Wilderness School in Toronto, Ont.
Landry also led a successful unsupported dog-sledding expedition to the Magnetic North Pole in 1998.
Since then, he has been to the North Pole three times and the South Pole twice.
