After months of work by tourism stakeholders in Drumheller, a new destination marketing organization (DMO) for the town may be ready in the near future.
A new name has been chosen for the group; Travel Drumheller. Upon formalizing the group, they will be eligible for funding from Travel Alberta.
“We’re pretty close to moving forward on the Travel Drumheller Marketing Association. We’ve come up with a tentative structure,” said Paul Salvatore, Director of Community Services with the Town of Drumheller.
To become fully operational, the group has recruited an executive director to take the helm.
“This is a critical piece for the organization to move forward. It will put us in a good position to take advantage of more opportunities in tourism in the future. He has an incredible amount of enthusiasm and experience in business and not-for-profits. We had a good level of comfort with his application and the ideas he brought to the table,” said Salvatore.
Chris Curtis
New executive director of Travel Drumheller
Chris Curtis, the new executive director, feels he can bring another perspective to the marketing efforts of Drumheller.
“I was really excited. I’ve been to Drumheller twice and the second time I was really overwhelmed by the scenery. It’s a beautiful and unique place,” said Curtis. “I think I can bring a unique perspective. I’ve travelled all over the world and worked in 45 different countries. Quite often, if you live close to something, you don’t see the beauty that other people, like a tourist, might see.”
Curtis is preparing to make the move from Halifax. Upon arriving, he will start by engaging tourism sector businesses and see how best to move forward from there.
“I’ve done a lot of work helping get into the tourism business as entrepreneurs,” said Curtis. “The best thing to do is to talk to people in the community and find, from those discussions, what needs to happen. I have some ideas, but it needs to be driven by the community and it’s my job to see that it happens.”
Early estimates had the organization up and running this summer. The timeline has been pushed back slightly and the organization will move ahead once Curtis arrives in Drumheller.