When Chuck Davidson, president and CEO of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce (MCOC), addressed business community members last week, he talked about the organization’s advocacy with regard to tourism.
As a result of the MCOC’s efforts, working with the provincial government, Davidson said tourism revenue in Manitoba has the capacity to increase from $1.5 billion to $2 billion by 2020.
“It affects every one of [the] 69 chambers in Manitoba,” Davidson said. “Tourism is important to every part of the province.”
Davidson spoke at a meeting of the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce on June 23. He explained that tourism brings Manitoba $250 million of tax revenue every year and creates 25,000 jobs in the province.
However, for close to a decade government investment in the industry had been held at $7 million, mostly used to fund Travel Manitoba, the province’s marketing arm. Davidson pointed out that only $1.5 million of those funds were used to promote the province, with the balance for operating expenses such as rent and staff.
He compared that amount to the $15 million spent on tourism in Saskatchewan, and $12 million spent by Maritime provinces on tourism advertising. “We’ve all seen the commercials,” he said, “because they’re targeting people in Manitoba to come out to the Maritimes.”
By contrast, Travel Manitoba has been advertising the province only within Manitoba and in Calgary, he said.
MCOC brought together tourism stakeholders and developed what they call the 96/4 funding model, presenting it to government last year. The model proposed that of $250 million annual tourism tax revenue, the government keep 96 per cent and reinvest the other four per cent. This would allow an additional $4 million that could be used to increase the province’s marketing budget.
Davidson said the recent provincial budget adopted the MCOC’s plan and has added funding for tourism.
“For the tourism industry in Manitoba, that was a huge win,” said Davidson. Additional funds can now be used to target US markets “to attract more people to come north, to talk about the fishing, talk about the polar bears, talk about all the different things that Manitoba has to offer. So the return is going to be huge.”
City councillor Karen MacKinnon toured Davidson throughout the Flin Flon area during his visit.
Davidson’s family is from Flin Flon, and he lived in the community until grade 2.
“It’s so great having someone with such a connection to the North being the president of the MCOC,” said MacKinnon. “That’s going to help us, because he loves the North.”
MacKinnon has been at the forefront of tourism in the area, working with Community Futures Greenstone to develop a zed card (folding map and information card) that shows people what the community has to offer. She said the city is also working on its website and looking at creating a Facebook page for the area.
MacKinnon is also one of the driving forces behind the city’s Clean and Green initiative, which includes walking tours “so when people come here they have something to do.”
MacKinnon said the Flinty statue’s win in last year’s Roadside Madness contest resulted in the area receiving more exposure from Travel Manitoba. And The Orange Toad was featured on its website as one of 14 places to eat in Manitoba last December.
MacKinnon said more visibility helps the area. “[It] shows what we have here,” shd said. “We have so much in our community.
“Tourism is a win-win situation for our area.”
