A recently completed map of Sundre’s trails and pathways will certainly help promote the community’s appealing recreational asset and potentially entice new people to explore our community.
Of course for some residents, tales of tourists elicit nightmares of camera toting, selfie stick-wielding hordes of visitors blocking the view as they compete for the perfect picture to post on social media.
But that doesn’t mean we should want to build walls, proverbial or otherwise. Sundre is not about to become the next Banff overnight, or even any time soon.
Yet there is nevertheless a vastly untapped economic potential that could be a huge boon for us and the surrounding area.
Regardless of whether anyone likes it, more and more people are visiting the region.
According to Alberta Transportation, the 2017 annual average daily traffic total coming through Sundre — as per data obtained at the traffic lights tracking motorists heading in any direction — was shy of 26,000. That was a big boost from 2016, when the annual average daily traffic count was closer to 22,500. Naturally those figures jump even higher during the summer averages.
This all ties in with a national trend, as in 2018, Canada’s tourism sector set a record-breaking year for the second time in a row. Destination Canada, the country’s national marketing organization, recently reported that 21.13 million travellers arrived in Canada last year.
“2018 was the best year for Canadian tourism on record, with arrivals reaching 21.13 million, breaking the 21 million mark for the first time ever,” reads a press release.
The industry supports roughly three-quarters of a million jobs in communities throughout the country, injecting an estimated $102.5 billion to our collective economy.
That’s a mighty big pie and we should want a slice.
Nobody likes potholes and we all like well-maintained infrastructure that ensures clean and safe running water, flushing toilets and a functioning gas system to heat our homes.
But with unavoidable annual inflation, we cannot possibly hope to ever pay for the aforementioned with a stagnant population. Unless of course residents are OK with paying even more taxes, which we highly doubt.
The more money people are spending in Sundre, the more reason local businesses have to hire more employees to cater to that growing demand. The economic spinoff is undeniable.
We should be proud to live in such an enviable environment that people seek us out.
And we hope that as the municipality pursues efforts alongside dedicated volunteers to further develop and improve trail connectivity, that Sundre’s reputation eventually reaches the point where discussions about hiking or biking in places such as Bragg Creek and Canmore lead to conversations about Snake Hill and our Red Deer River trails.
The new map will surely play a role towards achieving that and we look forward to seeing — and covering — progress moving forward.
— Ducatel is the Round Up’s editor
