UCP announces $63M boost for Travel Alberta to aid tourism industry

A man is seen canoeing on Patricia Lake in Jasper National Park in a stock photo. (Getty Images)

The province is hoping a $63 million boost to Travel Alberta's budget will help accelerate the tourism industry's recovery.

"For the last two years, the tourism industry in Alberta has had a tough time," said Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation Doug Schweitzer at a Friday news conference.

"It's been a struggle as we've been dealing with this pandemic, travel restrictions, just restrictions in general when it comes to events during this time."

Schweitzer said Friday that Tourism Alberta will move to more of a "destination management" organization, and will be working with communities, businesses and entrepreneurs to develop new tourism experiences, products and destinations.

"At the height of the pandemic, we lost over 50,000 tourism jobs, the vast majority of those tourism driven jobs have now been recovered in the province of Alberta. But we still have a long way to go," Schweitzer said.

"We have to be there for them now to make sure that they can recover and get back to their pre-pandemic levels of tourism fast."

The boost to Travel Alberta's budget comes as part of a three-year tourism strategy called the Bootstrap Plan, which is centred on three pillars: marketing, destination development and air access.

"Alberta is a fly-to destination for tourism," Schweitzer. "We don't have huge population clusters that are close to our province, so we have to make sure that we have the roots of people coming here and flying here.

He said Travel Alberta will be working with airlines and airports to identify routes and opportunities for future growth.

"Alberta’s tourism sector is a key driver of revenue and jobs. When we talk about economic recovery, growth and diversification, tourism is one of the key industries we look to," Schweitzer said.

"I am confident that the work we’re doing will reposition the sector for future and sustained growth and will accelerate the sector’s recovery and help get it back to pre-pandemic levels by 2024."

Schweitzer said Travel Alberta will invest more than $50 million over three years to "enhance and grow visitor products and experiences."

Another $3.75 million was announced Friday to go to indigenous tourism.