NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Visitors to the Northwest Territories want to experience daily life and cultural activities in communities more than hunting and fishing, says the manager of tourism industry services.

Deh Cho Bison Jamboree handgames participants Eric Gargan, left, Eddie Gargan, Fabien Bonnetrouge, Henry Sabourin and Ricky Gargan move to the beat of the drums before hiding their hands to place their tokens during the Deh Cho Bison Jamboree in 2012. It's these kind of activities tourists to the NWT increasingly want to see, says an official with the Department Industry, Tourism and Investment. - NNSL file photo

Kwame Neba with the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, said the numbers of people coming to the territory to hunt and fish have declined over the past decade.

Bans on hunting barrenground caribou and the U.S. ban on importing polar bear parts were major contributors to the decline, Neba said.

Fishing numbers are also decreasing.

"Hunting has been in decline as a product of the Northwest Territories, fishing as well has been in some sort of a decline. We don't know why," Neba said. "We are currently engaged in research to actually identify why fishing has been in decline."

According to Tourism 2015, the GNWT's current guiding document on the territory's tourism industry, sport hunting fell by 50 per cent from 2005/2006 to 2009/2010.

Fishing declined by three per cent a year during that same time period, according to the report.

But Kwame said what the territory has lost in consumptive tourism, it's making up for in other ways.

"The other side of it is we've seen a huge increase in aurora tourism over the past five years," he said.

"We have also made huge strides toward aboriginal cultural development. That is the direction we would be going."

Tourism 2020 is currently being developed and community consultations are scheduled throughout October and November.

Neba said one objective is to find out which aspects of Tourism 2015 worked and which didn't in order to update the document.

"We ask the industry to evaluate the previous plan or the current plan being Tourism 2015 and tell us about what worked well and what didn't work and what were the barriers to accessing the program," he said.

Another goal is to find out what communities have to offer visitors.

"We're asking communities to identify what is their own authentic cultural experience and sort of work toward building a market-ready product for tourists," he said.

Deline has already begun offering cultural experiences to attract visitors to the community. In August, the community participated in a pilot project titled Destination Deline and hosted a group of tourists from the U.S.

Visitors got a chance to go berry-picking, watched drum dancing and were given boat tours on Great Bear Lake.

Chief Leonard Kenny said the group enjoyed their stay.

"They left with such a good impression," he said.

Neba said he agreed.

"The feedback we received was that it was a wonderful experience for them," he said.

Kenny said he also met a group of canoeists travelling on the Bear River last summer and invited them to stop in at Deline.

He said the entire community came together to welcome the travellers.

"People all met them down at the dock," he said. "They all shook their hands."

The group ended up staying several days and were shown traditional drum dancing and told stories about the land.

Kenny said making visitors feel welcome and accommodated is key.

"If we're going to do this, we need to deliver the hospitality for these people. It has to be at a certain level," he said. "Make sure you cater to them so that everything they need is there. I think that's one of the key things that we learned."

Neba said the department hopes to expand Deline's success into other communities in the territory.

"Most of our programs are geared toward building capacity in communities," he said.

Neba said he encourages residents and people in the industry to participate in the upcoming community consultations.

"That really would help inform the programs and services," he said.

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