”If you promote it, they will come” is the mantra the new Innisfail tourism group diligently worked on during its monthly meeting last week.
Surina Carloni, the town's marketing and social media coordinator, chaired the meeting and led the group of 16 attendees through an evaluation process on possible tourism brochures.
Opinion was split on what to feature on the front cover.
Darren Black, of the Innisfail Golf Club, liked the photo of the little girl kissing the beaver with the colourful hat while others liked the golf course photograph.
“It's appealing enough to make people pick up the brochure,” said Black. “But we could make the cameo photos larger and move them up from the bottom slightly.”
There was consensus on the image of whitewater rafting not being included any longer on the front.
“Where can we go whitewater rafting?” asked Diane Mineault, executive director of the Innisfail Chamber of Commerce
Black commented that the top three attractions in Innisfail were Discovery Wildlife Park, the golf course and the Daines rodeo.
The round table attendees agreed.
“We do have a picture of the rodeo in the brochure, “said Carloni. “The bucking bronco is going to stay.”
There was a question about Anthony Henday and his place in Innisfail's tourism strategy.
“He has never left us,” said Helen Dietz, the town's chief administrative officer. “We just don't know what to do with him now. He is on the cover of the brochure. Perhaps we need to have Anthony Henday Days?”
Bonnie Brown, of the Best Western Innisfail Inn, donated a night's accommodation as a prize in a draw at the trade show while the Innisfail Golf Club donated two green fees. The Danish Canadian Village offered a meal at its attraction.
As well, monthly draws and prizes will be available from local attractions.
The final appearance of the brochure won't matter though, if people don't pick them up, added Doug Bos, co-owner of Discovery Wildlife Park and a member of town council.
“We have to get the brochure in their hands,” said Bos. “The present colour scheme is nice and we run out of brochures often at the park. We need to put our best foot forward.”
After the meeting, Carloni said she was pleased with the outcome of the tourism meeting.
“We need a plan to go forward, and the brochure is the beginning,” she said.
The new brochure will be available at the Chamber's trade show on April 25 and tourism centres across Alberta in early May.
