'They love the scenery and the wildlife'
Northern News Services
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Yellowknife saw a huge spike in tourists last winter with more than 6,000 additional visitors than the previous winter.
The majority of those visitors were from Japan and China - some 3,500 of them.
Countries in eastern Europe are not believed to be prominent of Yellowknife's tourism radar, but a tour guide from Poland is trying to change all that.
Bogdan Kwiatek is doing what he can to improve the profile of Yellowknife and the NWT to residents of Poland.
After years of taking Polish visitors to the Yukon and Alaska, Kwiatek is now offering tours in the territory as well. He was in Yellowknife last month along with 10 tourists from Poland.
"It's not a big number but we are here for between two and three weeks," Kwiatek said.
"The trip costs between $6,000 and $7,000 for each visitor - that's a lot of money for most residents of Poland,"
The Polish travellers are affluent - some are doctors or lawyers.
They are not afraid to spend money once they get here, Kwiatek said.
"They love the scenery and the wildlife, some of the best they've ever seen, they tell me. I also love the North."
