The promising bright flame of the community's tourism future was lit at the Innisfail Library Learning Centre and Surina Carloni, the town's tourism coordinator, couldn't be more pleased.
ìWe had nearly 20 business owners, managers, and town officials meet on January 28 to discuss the future of tourism in Innisfail,î said Carloni, who also serves as marketing and social media coordinator for the Town of Innisfail. ìHelen Dietz, the town's chief administrative officer, presented her vision for tourism and the role of the town website to direct visitors and business.î
Lisa Lima, Travel Alberta industry relations consultant, also presented opportunities for collaboration between her agency and the Innisfail tourism group. Lima presented Travel Alberta's co-operative program, which is designed to assist marketing partnerships in extending its promotional activities by designing innovative and highly cost-effective ways to reach target audiences through various media.
ìThere hasn't been a coordinated effort to promote Innisfail tourism for at least five years,î said Mark Kemball, an Innisfail councillor. ìI was on that committee before I was a councillor and we designed the present brochure. With the involvement of Alberta Tourism and their considerable expertise, the future is exciting.î
While a consensus already existed that Innisfail and area have a wealth of attractions for visitors, the process of discussing regional initiatives was deemed valuable to the groups who attended.
ìRepresentatives from Historic Markerville Creamery, Innisfail's Historic Village, Discovery Park, Medicine River Wildlife Centre, the Town of Innisfail, the Innisfail Chamber of Commerce, and local businesses such as Innisfail Econo Lodge and Best Western were present and shared their ideas and energy with the group,î said Carloni. ìThere was such enthusiasm with some Innisfail business members excited to be part of a tourism team for the first time.î
Carloni added their first priority was to redevelop the Innisfail tourism brochure for distribution throughout Alberta and British Columbia.
ìWith this group coming together we now can address the issue of what our new brochure will look like,î said Carloni. ìTravel Alberta has experience in this area and we can now draw on their expertise to make our handout sparkle from the cover to its content.
ìWe also discussed what our tourism group focus should be,î she added. ìThere are so many attractions in Innisfail and area, and we do have a close proximity to the QEII Highway and Red Deer. What message do we want out about Innisfail? There will be a question about branding in the future as well. The key achievement today was the beginning of a coordinated strategy to market Innisfail and area to the world.î
Diane Mineault, the chamber's executive director, was pleased with the meeting.
ìIt was good to see so many people gather to talk about tourism in Innisfail,î said Mineault. ìThey have a great idea that is just about to gain momentum. As far as tourism driving business goes, the development of several tourism packages will make the initiative more successful.î
A followup meeting has already been confirmed for February with Lima presiding over Part 1 of a three-part workshop called Explorer Quotient that will give Innisfail and area member groups a clear understanding of who their customers are and what they look for when making travel decisions.
ìThere are a lot of great events in and around Innisfail,î said Kemball. ìWe have the Daines Rodeo, Markerville Creamery, Innisfail's Historic Village, our local theatre group, the Innisfail Ski Hill and Discovery Wildlife Park. There are many gems waiting to be discovered by people in Central Alberta. I want to be part of the journey.î
