The World's Largest Dinosaur saw a ten per cent increase in visitors over 2013.
After a full year of operation, it appears the message coming from Travel Drumheller is that marketing works.
Travel Drumheller is holding its annual general meeting this Wednesday, November 26 at the Badlands Community Facility. They have an exciting year to report on and an optimistic outlook for the future of tourism in the valley.
This year Chris Curtis, executive director of Travel Drumheller estimates there was an overall 20 per cent increase in tourism in Drumheller. He reports the Royal Tyrrell Museum’s traffic was up 30 per cent and is poised to welcome close to 400,000 visitors next year. The Atlas Coal Mine National Historic Site was up 16 per cent and the World’s Largest Dinosaur was up 10 per cent.
This doesn’t happen in a vacuum. In 2013, he estimates there was $100,000 overall invested in marketing. In 2014, with the addition of premier events like the Tough Mudder, and the Gran Fondo, investment overall was in the area of $600,000.
“It is a matter of hearing the name Drumheller often enough and people will come,” said Curtis. “If we could match (investment) last year, this summer, we could anticipate another 20 per cent increase in tourism, which would be huge. That is why we are so interested in getting sustainable funding, to do the things we want to do.”
Chris Curtis, Travel Drumheller Executive Director
Not all of this investment came solely from Travel Drumheller, its role helped to be a contact point and a facilitator to promote the valley. This week he was at Canada West Market place in Canmore where international buyers gathered to see what Western Canada has to offer. There was great interest in Drumheller.
“This is not about marketing one thing, this is about marketing Drumheller as an area, people don’t come here for our hotels, the don’t come generally to stay in our campgrounds, they come here for what Drumheller has to offer. It is a big thing for us to realize what we have to offer,” he said.
The AGM is to report on the past year, to outline this future vision and to elect board members.
Recently Travel Drumheller presented its sustainable funding model through business licenses. He said he would be there to answer questions about the function of the proposed model. He says it is important to continue to invest in promoting the valley.
“If we don’t continue to do the work we are doing, it is not like we are going to have the status quo, because other people are doing the work we are doing,” he said. “So if we don’t do more and better work, we will actually fall behind.”
The meeting is at 7 p.m. and residents are welcome to attend.
“We want people to leave the meeting with sense of optimism for Drumheller.”
