INUVIK
Inuvik rang in Tourism Week at the Western Arctic Regional Visitor Centre May 31 with the first of a plethora of scheduled activities.
Gerry Kisoun of Tundra North Tours and Anne Kokko, the manager of tourism for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment in Inuvik, were among those celebrating the start of Tourism Week May 31 at the Western Arctic Regional Visitor Centre. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
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Anne Kokko, the manager of tourism for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, hosted an open house on the Sunday evening designed to whet people's appetite for what she calls the delights of delta tourism.
"Every year we celebrate Tourism Week, which is a national celebration of the tourism industry," Kokko explained. "So we always take the opportunity in the NWT to participate in some events and try to get something going locally to raise awareness about tourism and celebrate the start of the season."
The Sunday night event was the first try at introducing something new to the week, Kokko said.
"We were trying to figure out what night would be a good night for industry night, and the people I got ahold of said let's celebrate us before we all get too busy, so we thought we'd try Sunday night and see what happened."
While not too many people were flocking to the event, Kokko said it was merely the opening salvo in a busy week of activities.
She's teamed up with Jackie Challis, Inuvik's manager of tourism, to offer theme days through the week.
June 1 saw the launch of the week-long Instagram Selfie Scavenger Hunt, which challenged people to submit shots of themselves or their team members at designated locations, including the inukshuk at the MacKenzie Hotel, in front of the Welcome to Inuvik sign, at the Inuvik Ski Club, jumping for joy in front of the Igloo Church and so on, Challis said.
Whoever completes the most photos on the list will be entered to win a contest, which includes a top prize of a free snowmobile or canoe/kayak rental from Tundra North Tours, which was previously known as Up North Tours.
On June 2, the organizers teamed up with various local eateries to offer Inuvik Eats day, with dinner specials.
June 3 saw the local territorial and national parks celebrated by NWT Tourism and Parks Canada.
Free town tours are being offered June 4 by Tundra North Tours, and there's a fiddling and jigging contest tentatively scheduled for the evening of June 5.
June 6 will see free canoe and kayak rentals at the riverfront from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m.
"Jackie wanted to see a different aspect of tourism highlighted every day of Tourism Week," Kokko said. "There's a day for eating, for the parks and so we will see how it goes and change it up next year if we need to.
"There's a little bit of everything," she added.
The parks awareness day will also segue into a full month of activities for the territorial parks, added Wendy Brake, a parks interpreter and guide. It's an expansion of the wildly successful program she began in 2014 to rave reviews.
A new customer service award is also being introduced this summer, Kokko added.
"This is meant to be Western Arctic or Beaufort Delta- wide," she said. "It celebrates great customer service, and is open to anyone in the tourism or customer-service industry from gas stations to restaurants to hotels and many other things."
Tourism, Kokko added, is a "100-million-dollar industry in the NWT.
"It's the fourth-largest industry measured by dollars," she said. "It's harder to break it down to regions due to the data. It has an impact across a large, large number of areas. It's certainly significant."
