SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A video showing the kayaking opportunities in and around Fort Smith has turned out to be a huge marketing tool for the territory's kayaking club.

Kris Johnson, left, of the NWT Kayaking Association, talks about the Slave River Paddle Fest and how its grown over time into a world-class event. Johnson said with the Internet release of a short film on paddling in Fort Smith, they've had hundreds of hits from people viewing the video. - Andrew Livingstone/NNSL photo

Jacqui Whitehead, an Australian paddler, produced a short video about paddling in Fort Smith recently, and Kris Johnson, representing the NWT Kayaking Association and Slave River Paddle Fest at the NWT Tourism conference last weekend, said it has brought them onto the international stage.

"She did this video for her own personal thing, suddenly it got picked up by a bunch of different paddling websites," he said. "It's inspiring for us to be on these world-class websites."

Getting NWT tourism operators out on the national and international stage is something Ron Ostrom, marketing director for NWT Tourism, said was one of the main goals of the tourism conference this past weekend.

The conference brought in more than 50 tourism operators from around the North, giving them a chance to showcase their products to 10 large tourism operators from the south, including Jonview Canada Inc., the largest tour operator selling Canada across the country and around the world.

"It's hard for our operators to go down to these shows internationally, or even in Canada, so we're trying to get our operators ready as quickly as we can and we're trying to give them the avenues to do just that," Ostrom said.

By connecting tourism operators with larger operators, Ostrom said it helps put the territory on the map as a popular place to travel. Ostrom said the organization's goal is to bridge the connection between tourists, operators and big market companies selling Canada within and abroad.

For Johnson the two-day conference was a chance to build on contacts and learn more about how to market their product to people around the country and the world.

"I didn't realize half the stuff was going on and marketing and cross-marketing the product," Johnson said. "When you start thinking about that second step of reaching out, there is a lot we can do."

With a potential to leverage off other tourism events and products, Johnson said the conference was a great opportunity to connect with other operators and market their products next to one another.

"I see a huge opportunity," Johnson said.

"If people are going to travel to the Northwest Territories then lets give them the biggest show possible."

Saskia Vanmourik, an avid paddler from Fort Smith representing Paddlefest, said being able to take their product and diversify what they offer is something they hope to do going into the future.

"The more connections you make with outfitters or other tourism groups the more diverse the group, it's not just going to be paddlers," Vanmourik said. "You're going to connect with other people and other interests."

Vanmourik said she hopes to incorporate aboriginal culture into the event, including aboriginal cuisine, sweat lodges and hiking to bring people out of their comfort zone.

"You're going to get a type of paddler who is going to stumble upon paddling or who is an expert," she said. "This way you're going to do something your familiar with but you don't know anything about."

Ostrom said the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver will give the NWT international exposure, something Trevor Wotherspoon of Watta Lake Lodge thinks will be a positive thing for the territory's tourism industry.

"There are going to be billions of people watching (the games)," he said, adding the video produced by the Canadian Tourism Commission on regions of the territory will help showcase all the North has to offer.

Ostrom said working together as an industry will help to raise awareness of the North and what there is here.

"It's a whole team approach and everybody working together as a cohesive unit will keep us building toward success," he said.