SUNDRE — The municipality’s marketing campaign, made possible largely courtesy of grant funding from Travel Alberta, is expected to help generate millions of dollars in local economic activity.
“Cumulatively speaking, just based on the anticipated returns provided as goals by our partners, we are looking at — and this is just referencing our private partners, not including every other business in the area — but there’s almost $2 million in anticipated revenues that’ll be generated in the Sundre area allocated to our private partners alone,” said Jonathan Allan, economic development officer.
There are about half a dozen private partners involved in supporting the marketing campaign, added Allan.
“We’re saying millions because our private partners alone account for almost $2 million in forecasted revenues generated as a result of the marketing campaign, he said.
When accounting for all of the other businesses in the area — such as liquor stores, the grocery store, restaurants, pubs, and other little shops — the potential for greater economic activity grows well beyond the anticipated $2 million, he said.
The campaign is geared towards primarily targetting Calgary and area residents who are seeking to escape the city’s confines.
“Based on our data that we’ve received through statistics gathered at the Visitor Information Centre and through our years of annual surveying through our website, we have found that about — generally speaking — half of all the tourists and visitors that come to the Sundre area are from the Calgary and area market,” he said on Sept. 10 during a phone interview..
“And so it makes a lot of sense for us to target that low hanging fruit since they represent our largest cohort of visitors" and therefore potential return on investment, he explained.
About a quarter of visitors come from the Edmonton region, while approximately 15 per cent hail from the Red Deer and Central Alberta area. The remaining roughly 10 per cent come from everywhere else, including “the rest of Canada as well as the United States and other international sources.”
The numbers, he added, naturally vary from year to year, but based on an analysis of data compiled over time, “this is the general rule of thumb.”
The $75,000 grant was awarded to the Town of Sundre’s department of economic development, which had previously applied for the funding under Travel Alberta’s Cooperative Investment Program to support tourism marketing efforts in the wake of the COVID-19 economic fallout.
“It had to be detailed, and it had to be a good strategy, and it succeeded obviously,” Allan said about the grant application.
“So, we were very happy about that, and recognize Travel Alberta’s faith in our strategy that we have proposed.”
The funding for the Explore Sundre campaign that runs from this summer until the end of March next year, was announced in mid-July.
“This grant is a little different than it used to be,” Allan said.
“A very slight difference. It used to provide matching dollars. This year, they are providing it as a straight grant without the requirement for matching dollars, which is a nice benefit for us, because it allowed us to earn a lot more money and to take the program to a much higher level.”
While the municipality would still have a marketing strategy without the grant, the additional funding opens the door to bigger opportunities, he said.
“It just enables us to do more — if we didn’t get this money, our advertising campaign would be a fraction of what it is this year,” he said.
The amount being provided by Travel Alberta is the largest received by the municipality to date, and will provide the majority of the funds needed for the implementation of the advertising campaign, which is worth more than $100,000. The balance of the campaign is being funded through the department’s normal budget, reads a portion of a press release.
“Travel Alberta’s huge contribution reflects Sundre’s importance as a destination for culture, recreation and adventure in Alberta,” said Allan.
“We’ve been successful with Travel Alberta on annual basis since 2015 in receiving these good-sized grants,” he added.
“We can only hope that provincial funding — or even federal funding — towards Travel Alberta stays in place, so that they can continue to support tourism operators and destination marketing organizations, like the Town of Sundre’s department of economic development.”
The funds will be used to undertake advertising across multiple mediums and to create further content for future advertising. The Explore Sundre campaign will see marketing efforts increased through advertising online, strategic social media marketing, as well as traditional advertising undertaken on billboards, in magazines and on television and radio, reads the press release.
The campaign encourages people to visit the municipality’s tourism website www.exploresundre.com and to consider not just the Town, but the entire tourism and trade area as a destination.
Sundre’s tourism and trade area generally refers to that which encompasses everything from Highway 22 east of Sundre, to the Bergen area south of Town, to west toward Ya Ha Tinda Ranch in Clearwater County, and north up to Burnstick Lake.
While the municipality hopes people come to visit local establishments, visitors are encouraged to respect COVID-19 protocols.
