Tourism Medicine Hat executive director Jace Anderson presents his group's 2022 annual report to council Monday night.--News Photo Collin Gallant
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Medicine Hat’s tourism sector may benefit from a bump if travellers are worried about money this summer, and Medicine Hat council heard local officials were already expecting a strong summer.
“The reality is that it’s going to be a very busy summer,” said Jace Anderson, executive director of the Destination Marketing Organization, which operates Tourism Medicine Hat on contract from the city.
“A ‘recession scare’ could cause people to change their plans, but that could lead to more people travelling within the province. They may travel less, but we may see more of them.”
Expectations for a larger number of visitors this year were already in place after a stronger than expected year in 2022, and predictions from hotel operators about a potential space crunch in coming months.
That was outlined in the group’s annual report from the past year, presented to council on Monday.
The report states that three in four Albertans plan to travel in 2023 and three-quarters of those plans include destinations within the province.
Nationally, one in five Canadians say Alberta would be a destination of choice, behind B.C. and Ontario.
In the southern Alberta region, including Medicine Hat and Lethbridge, the top attractions are museums and historic sites, hiking, dark sky viewing, or food and beverage related trips.
Coun. Robert Dumanowski said he has anecdotally heard positive news about offerings for golf, kayaking on the South Saskatchewan and expanded mountain biking trails and events.
“These aren’t pie-in-the-sky items” that seem to be working to draw in visitors, he said.
Coun. Alison Knodel said she supports the office and hopes the efforts will continue to be “bold and brave.”
Anderson said visits to both the website and the city from Alberta’s major centres are up. That is a target market for the group, and goals for 2023 were mostly met last year.
That includes hotel occupancy rates, uptake on golf packages and other offerings.
“We entered 2022 with cautious optimism,” said Anderson. “The rebound (after pandemic travel downturn) is not complete, but we covered more ground than we anticipated.”
That includes the numbers of U.S. RV travellers (arrivals from 42 states were recorded in 2022).
Tourism Medicine has provided services to the city since 2015, most recently on a five-year contract that was extended by one year for 2023.
The contract amounts to just under $400,000 for 2022, which the DMO states was leveraged to $975,000 in investment when grants and revenue were realized.
The group operates the city’s tourism information centre, operates the “Sunshine Trolley,” updates a community calendar with events and produces the “Experience Medicine Hat” guide each year – 30,000 copies of the latest edition will be sent out later this week.
