Tourism continues to thrive in Lethbridge, Alta.
In 2023, town noticed a 32 per cent enhance yr over yr in passenger volumes on the Lethbridge Airport and a 5.6 per cent enhance in automobile site visitors.
According to Tourism Lethbridge CEO Erin Crane, National Tourism Week helps to acknowledge the rising economic system in southern Alberta by way of a wide range of occasions, points of interest and experiences.
“In 2023 we saw a decrease from 2022. We were at about 19 million this year, and you know that actually is a really good number to have,” defined Crane.
“It was just in 2022, we had hosted some major events like the Tim Hortons Brier, Alberta Treaty Hockey Provincials and what those numbers tell us, and it’s nice that we’re tracking them, is to see these ebbs and flows.”
Crane mentioned Tourism Lethbridge’s objective is to have some main occasions coming in each single yr, so the tourism platform doesn’t rise and fall as a lot as they’ve seen in years previous.
“There’s a vitality wheel that I often talk about,” mentioned Crane. “You know that if you create a community where people want to visit, you’ve created a community where people want to live, and if you create a community where people want to live you’ve created a community where people want to work.”
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“If you create a community where people want to work, you create a community where people want to invest. Investment brings more visitors, and the cycle continues and that’s the forward momentum that we want to see here in Lethbridge,” she continued.
Local scorching spots like Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden shared their pleasure for the current enhance in visitation.
“So, both during the summertime and the winter months we did over 35,000 people which is a 32 per cent increase and 16 per cent respectively,” mentioned Erik Granson, advertising and marketing and occasions supervisor for Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden.
“One of the most amazing things actually is the increase in attendance from both Medicine Hat and Edmonton as well during the Winter Lights Festival.”
Granson provides that earlier this yr, workers from the Japanese Garden, which is ready to open in May, attended the Garden Conference in Victoria and have been offered with a serious award.
“Our executive director was there, and we actually ended up getting a ‘Top 10 Gardens Worth Traveling For’ (recognition). That’s beating the Singapore gardens and many others that were in there. It’s humbling to be a part of that group, but also it’s really exciting to really showcase this top-10 garden in our own backyard,” mentioned Granson.”
In addition, the Galt Museum & Archives and Fort Whoop-Up shared their very own successes with the presentation of their annual report on April 18 at Lethbridge City Hall.
“We’re very proud of all our volunteers and all the activities happening at the Fort and Galt,” mentioned Jesse Sadlowski, board chair for the Galt Museum.
“Our Fort has our attendance up by 20 per cent, as well as the Galt attendance is up at nine per cent.”
Lethbridge isn’t the one thriving group, with Minister of Tourism and Sport Joseph Schow sharing that the province as a complete is seeing alleviated pressures within the sector.
“International travellers that we want to see come back to Alberta after the pandemic are coming back by the droves and the numbers tell us exactly that,” mentioned Schow. “We have actually matched pre-pandemic levels spending from international travellers in three quarters in 2023, instead of four from 2019.”
International customer spending reached $2.53 billion in these three quarters of 2023, in comparison with $2.28 billion in worldwide spending for all of 2019.
A brand new tourism technique carried out by the province again in February additionally seems to achieve a objective of rising Alberta’s customer economic system to $25 billion in annual customer spending by 2035.
“Now that we’re out of the pandemic, I think it’s a great time for us to start planning long-term,” Schow mentioned. “We’ve set this goal, which I think is very achievable, by relying upon things like increasing air access, working to develop Indigenous tourism, working with government and making sure we have collaboration there, ensuring that we’re working with post-secondary schools and creating immigration streams to meet the labour needs and so many other factors,” added Schow.
The Tourism Industry of Canada signifies the sector has infused $100 billion into the Canadian economic system and fuels the creation of 1 in 10 jobs nationally.
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Lethbridge celebrates a thriving year of visitors during National Tourism Week
