Tourism Swift Current looking to the future with sustainability plan
Tourism Swift Current has revealed a detailed sustainability plan to guide the organization and its stakeholders as the tourism industry in the region starts the challenging road to recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The official unveiling of the sustainability plan took place during the Tourism Swift Current annual general meeting, which was held virtually via videoconference on May 19.
The development of the plan took place with financial support from Tourism Saskatchewan. The tourism consulting agency Destinate Group Lt. was commissioned to develop the plan.
The presentation during the Tourism Swift Current annual general meeting was done by Lori Sly, the founder and principal of Destinate Group, and lead consultant Todd Brandt.
“This is an aspirational plan, that’s important to state,” Sly emphasized. “We are not saying that everything in this plan will be implemented and will be implemented right away, but we wanted to create something for you to try to move to, and depending on the resources that are available, this plan is intended to be a living document and it really does need the collaboration of just not Tourism Swift Current, but the broader group as a whole, the stakeholders, the members, the community, the region. So we’re really trying to bring that collaboration together in this plan.”
The development of the plan included an extensive engagement process to obtain feedback from stakeholders and interested parties in the region. There were 69 respondents to a quantitative research survey and there was also a qualitative research process involving seven focus group discussions and 24 one-on-one interviews.
Brandt told the meeting he was impressed with the good response to the engagement process, which gave them a better understanding of what the tourism industry in the area looks like at the moment. The feedback from the engagement identified a few recurrent themes.
“The membership and that really wants Tourism Swift Current to have the capacity to be proactive, to develop business relationships, but the regional approach really resonated,” he said.
Responses indicated that the region is rich in tourism opportunities for future development, and Swift Current is considered as a launch point to experience tourism in southwest Saskatchewan. Respondents felt a regional tourism brand will help the area to compete with other regions.
Tourism Swift Current Executive Director Lee Friesen spoke to the Prairie Post about the sustainability plan during a telephone interview, May 25. He emphasized the importance of collaboration and a coordinated approach to implement the details of the plan.
“When the pandemic hit last year and we were all required to move into lockdown, we knew we had to have a plan for recovery and that's where the sustainability project comes in,” he said. “I want to stress it's not a report. It's a plan. It's about recovery, but that's going to take more than Tourism Swift Current. It's going to take more than the City, it's going to take more than the Swift Current & District Chamber of Commerce, it's going to take more than Community Futures. Those are stakeholders and those are our partners, but it's going to take all of us to put this together.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a devastating impact on the tourism industry around the world and it has been no different in the Swift Current region.
“When all events are cancelled, when your restaurants are at 50 per cent capacity and hotels are at 30 per cent occupancy, that's really a big hit for everyone,” he said. “If you go back to 2019, which is before the pandemic, annual events in Swift Current were surpassing 50,000 in total attendance and visitor spending was $51 million. So those numbers are hard to replace.”
The tourism numbers for Saskatchewan as a whole also highlights the challenges faced by the industry. Tourism spending in Saskatchewan was $2.17 billion in 2019, there were 11.82 million visits to the province, and tourism-related employment was 71,100 individuals, which represented 12 per cent of Saskatchewan's total labour force.
In 2020 the tourism spending dropped to $1.17 billion and there were 7.07 million visits, while employment declined 30 per cent to about 49,800 people in August 2020.
“Before the pandemic our visitors would be international, it would be national, it would be out of province,” Friesen said. “We have more of a localized visitor today, more of a regional visitor, more of a provincial visitor, and that's all part of being encouraged to not travel interprovincially, not travel nationally, or let alone internationally. So what we do have is a pent-up demand from within our own province and we're actually seeing more people from our province and we expect that trend is going to continue in 2021.”
The development of Tourism Swift Current’s sustainability plan was triggered by the impact of the pandemic, but the plan will also help to address capacity challenges that existed previously.
“I think one of the keys to this plan is the branding aspect of it and it's forging an identity,” he said. “That could be from a local end, that could be a provincial end. If you look at Tourism Saskatchewan, when you talk about land and sky, when you talk about time and space, that really defines who we are. Swift Current is located in southwest Saskatchewan. It's a vast and diverse area, but sparsely populated and we lack some resources, but that again comes back to the capacity, because we've always had the base, and when you look at our region, we're in a good position to build on that.”
Friesen felt two key aspects of the process to start the implementation of the plan will be the leadership role of the Tourism Swift Current board and the broader engagement process with stakeholders and communities in the region.
The plan includes various recommendations for enhanced board governance and suggests the establishment of an Events Swift Current committee. The plan also indicates a need for Tourism Swift Current to have enhance human resource capacity.
The plan includes proposals with regard to expanding engagement with Tourism Swift Current members, to develop a greater presence in digital platforms, and to develop or refine Tourism Swift Current program offerings.
A key proposal in the plan is the need to develop a banner, sculpture or mural destination animation program to entice more travelers on the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway No. 4 to stop in Swift Current. The plan also proposes an enhanced signage and billboard program to attract the attention of highway travelers and it identifies the potential to expand the convention and tradeshow hosting facilities in Swift Current.
The plan suggests the creation of a new destination marketing program to ensure the long-term sustainability of the tourism industry in the region through a user-pay, visitor levy model. Another key proposal in the plan is the development of a Greater Southwest Destination Consortium. This will not be a new entity, but it will serve to improve cooperation between existing tourism entities in the region.
“As people we all want to travel and we're all looking for experiences, and I think we're seeing that increased trend,” Friesen said. “The pandemic has set back all of our travels, but people are looking for things beyond the established destinations, the checklist that perhaps people had before. People are looking for experiences, and coming out of this pandemic you're going to see more people taking day trips, road trips and that is one thing we have in southwest Saskatchewan, also within our province. We have that opportunity… You don't have to reach everyone and you never will. You just want to reach and provide the experiences that you have, and that's part of the brand, celebrating who you are and ultimately you will bring those people to your community.”