Business owners in Fort Smith and the South Slave region were recently given a handful of lessons and insights on generating tourism in their area.
Between April 20th and the 22nd, Fort Smith hosted the first South Slave Tourism Development Workshop. The event was put together by the Salt River First Nation, with help from the Town of Fort Smith, the Town of Hay River, and the GNWT Tourism and Investment group.
Up to 40 business owners and government members took part in the workshops, which were taught by tourism experts. Many of the attendees came from Fort Smith and Hay River, but residents of K’atl’odeeche and Fort Chipewyan also took part.
The content of the workshops was developed and facilitated by Firecircle, a company with 30 years of experience helping new and existing rural and remote entrepreneurs develop sustainable business models. Facilitator Deneen Allen, the founder and CEO of Firecircle led the discussions, which revolved around topics such as destination branding, marketing, pricing, partnerships and packaging.
Some of the speakers included Chief Marketing Officer for NWT Tourism, Joel Walton. He spoke about marketing in the NWT, where the South Slave fits into the NWT Tourism brand and how local businesses can be supported by the organization. Also sharing their experience was Brenda Dragon, who spoke about how she ended up creating her brand, Aurora Heat, which has been internationally recognized for selling beaver fur warmers which started in the Thebacha region.
The 2.5-day workshops were developed with the goal to inspire future tourism operators to develop their business plan and engage in initiatives that showcase the untouched beauty of the South Slave region.
