Kyle Thomas

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Mar 30 2018

Where is Yellowknife tourism right now?

Yellowknife tourism is a passion of mine, that is clear for those who know me, but if you don’t, it is. I like to live and breathe it. I want to support and push it forward in any capacity this community will allow. I want to contribute at an industry level and not just where it benefits me. I want to work on how we can develop a sustainable tourism industry, where everyone benefits. One that also contributes to making Yellowknife the best possible place to live, work and play.

I have long lists of tourism improvements Yellowknife could to look at. Before I throw those ideas into the universe I thought it would be wise to look at Yellowknife tourism as a whole. Look at where Yellowknife tourism is right now and what is being done and by whom.

Here is what I know of:

The Northern Frontier Visitor Centre closed down in July 2017. The Northern Frontier Visitor Association (NFVA) also stopped providing visitor services at the end of September 2017. The NFVA provided visitor services for 25 years. For the last few years, the NFVA received an annual combined contribution of $240,000+/- from the City of Yellowknife and GNWT ITI.

The City of Yellowknife is operating a small visitor centre at City Hall until September 30th, 2018.

As of March 16th, 2018 the City has requested a successful proponent develop a Yellowknife Visitor Center Strategy. This would direct what the City does after September 30th in terms of visitor services.

In 2016/2017, the NFVA also conducted a strategy on what the best option for a Visitor Centre in Yellowknife might look like.

NWT Tourism promotes the Northwest Territories. Yellowknife is the primary destination for tourism in the Territory. NWT Tourism must remain neutral in promoting all of the Northwest Territories.

The City of Yellowknife is lobbying the Government of the Northwest Territories – Municipal and Community Affairs Department to change the Towns and Village Act. The change would allow the City to implement an Accommodation Levy which would help fund City of Yellowknife tourism initiatives. This change in the act should be tabled in the Legislative Assembly in June 2018. If not, lets riot ;). There was some large amount of public consultation done for this.

The City of Yellowknife also contracted a local consultant to develop a Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) strategy. This strategy will direct how the City of Yellowknife implements its own tourism marketing. Up until now, they claim it has only been done by NWT Tourism. A visitor guide, phone calls to a visitor centre, and visitor packages are all considered marketing in one form or another. Even a visitor centre itself is technically a marketing tool if people from outside of that destination are utilizing it for information for that destination.

Somewhere in all of this, partly due to the closing of the Northern Frontier Visitor Centre, the City of Yellowknife requested within one of there current contracts with a local contractor that they created the new brand “Extraordinary Yellowknife”. A small amount of consultation was done in very specific markets, but few industry stakeholders seemed to know about the new brand development.

In 2016/2017, Yellowknife had 70,000 visitors come through the city. They contributed at least $90 million dollars to the Yellowknife economy.

Hotels are expanding and opening. Chateau Nova opened in fall of 2016, with their second phase to open soon. The Explore Hotel is in the midst of significant expansion. A new hotel on Franklin Avenue into Old Town is nearing completion. Airbnb continues to expand with the city having very little vacancy in months like February, March, and September.

The City of Yellowknife is only responsible for tourism activities done within the city boundaries. What happens on the Ingraham Trail past the Yellowknife River is the responsibility of the GNWT.

There is no Yellowknife tourism specific organization, association, society, oversight committee or advisory board.

And that is what I know of the Yellowknife Tourism Industry to date. Have I missed anything?

I certainly have opinions on some of these points, but I don’t want them to be perceived in a negative way. I truly believe that the way forward with this industry, because Yellowknife is a relatively small place, is through inclusive, transparent and open decision making. 

I love Yellowknife and I am passionately driven to continuously promote and develop Yellowknife as a desirable place to live and visit. I want to be involved in how we develop it as a destination, even if that is just sitting in a consultation meeting or writing endless articles on the internet. Although, I hope it is much more.

Next, let’s look at some of those improvements we as a community can make to improve Yellowknife as a tourism destination.

Written by kylewith · Categorized: Tourism · Tagged: city of yellowknife, Northwest Territories, placemaking, tourism, yellowknife, Yellowknife Tourism

Mar 16 2018

One collective voice to make the Northwest Territories better

Last week I sat in a meeting with several Northwest Territories farmers, producers, and growers, and a common thread was how much further ahead Yukon is in terms of agriculture than the Northwest Territories. Many agricultural businesses are hindered by regulations and limited access to resources that should be readily available.

Then over the weekend, I was having a conversation with another Yellowknife entrepreneur where we noted that Whitehorse and Yukon were much further ahead than the Northwest Territories in terms of their technology, startup and innovation sector.

Which also reminded me that for years we have talked about how the Northwest Territories is so far behind Yukon in terms of territorial tourism efforts.

And just the other day I read about how High Level, Alberta – read: very small town in Northern Alberta – has an Accommodation Levy of 7% yet Yellowknife is having a hard time getting one at all to support our ever-growing tourism demand.

Ah yes, and then there is the arts sector, which is made up of the most creative people, but they are limited by grant options, gallery space, practice venues and all around support. But when they look at Yukon they see a much more developed arts sector. One that even has a University program in a small town.

The Issue

What I see and hear is that those people in those sectors care about what they do, and want the NWT to be better, but feel like the NWT is so far behind and that there is simply nothing they can do about it. And don’t misunderstand me, I don’t think Yukon has everything figured out, probably far from it, but they are ahead of the Northwest Territories.

I actually wonder if Nunavut looks of the Northwest Territories with envy and awe the same way the NWT seems to look at Yukon?

It is great to talk about these things, and look to Yukon for guidance and inspiration, but when is talking enough? When should action be put in place? And what is that action? How can we make the Northwest Territories be ahead of the Yukon for a change, or at least feel that way?

As an individual, or even within one of the sectors mentioned above, our voices seem to get lost and never taken seriously. These little pockets of people, passionate about one thing are often not loud enough voice to induce change at any rapid rate.

To an average resident of this territory, someone not within the Government of the Northwest Territories, it seems like most officials just talk about the issues facing the Northwest Territories with little to show for any *actual* change or progress.

It is heartbreaking and exhausting as a resident who loves his community and this territory to feel as though we are being held back. Spending time with these different groups – tourism, agriculture, technology, startups, arts – has opened my eyes to all the passionate people that reside here.

It is easy to say our territorial government needs to step up, loosen the rains, and push forward some change for the better. Change that would allow food producers to get off the ground without being overly regulated, or would allow for a municipal government to collect a levy to support its own tourism industry, or would allow the arts community real resources to take them to a national level, or would allow for entrepreneurs the ability to create a space and the resources to expand innovated ideas that could change the landscape of the Northwest Territories.

But at what point are we as individuals, and organizations, responsible for pushing and creating this change and saying enough is enough.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel exhausted on a daily basis because it seems like every new idea I have has a giant roadblock in its way and I need to become some sort of Government lobbyist just to do anything. That isn’t right. Residents should not have to lobby against its own government just to do simple things. The Northwest Territories should not be reinventing the wheel every time someone wants to do something that has never been done here before. May I point you in the direction of the NWT Brewing Co.

Maybe a solution? A step forward?

When I say we the residents, innovators, artists, growers, farmers, and tourism operators need to create the change, I mean this in the sense that we need to work together. Our voices are spread too thin when we are all lobbying for our own cause when in reality we all want similar change. We all want our regulating bodies to work with us, and not feel like their working against us, stifling our innovation, stifling our ideas.

There are organizations for food producers, the arts community, the business community, potentially the local tourism sector, and if the territorial tourism association could look past their government funding, them too. If all these organizations and any individual willing – because I believe everyone should have a voice even if they’re just one person – got together, showed up at the Legislative Assembly, wrote a letter, or simply said enough is enough and took action, maybe then we can change. Maybe then we could open the NWT up for innovation, new ideas, more creativity, a sustainable food system and who knows what else. Maybe we could attract even more tourism, develop more experience based products that showcase the territories history and culture, attract more Universities to conduct research here.

It just seems like the weight of the territory sits on the shoulders of a few, and those few sit in silos and don’t talk with one another. Maybe if they talked their collective voice would be loud enough to be noticed and effect change.

Maybe it would but maybe it would all be for not.

But at the end of the day, there are passionate people in this territory, in each of those sectors, and others – sports, sustainable energy, fishing, etc – who will get tired. Who will burn out. Who will just find a job and stay quiet for the rest of their career. Who might leave the territory altogether.

We need to stop that from happening.

Written by kylewith · Categorized: Entrepreneurial, Tourism · Tagged: Northwest Territories, tourism, yellowknife, Yellowknife Tourism

Jun 30 2014

Fort Smith Road Trip: Mosquito Update

There are lots. Lots and lots of mosquitoes.

Bugs in the NWT

Written by kylewith · Categorized: Travels · Tagged: bugs, camping, fort smith, mosquitoes, Northwest Territories, NWT

Jan 19 2014

The Day Trip to Fort Providence, NWT

This year to celebration the winter solstice, my friend and I, took a day trip to the community of Fort Providence, NWT. It is about a 3 hour drive from Yellowknife.

Along the way you are bound to see many bison grazing along the side of the road. Just past Fort Providence is the Deh Cho Bridge that span across the MacKenzie River. In town there is a nice view of the “big river”, and my favourite the Snowshoe Inn Cafe and Gift Shop. I highly recommend taking the drive to check out this little store.

Fort Providence Adventure

Fort Providence Adventure

Fort Providence Adventure

Fort Providence Adventure

Fort Providence Adventure

Fort Providence Adventure

Fort Providence Adventure

Fort Providence Adventure

Fort Providence Adventure

buffalo from the jeep

Fort Providence Adventure

Written by kylewith · Categorized: PhotoBlog, Travels · Tagged: buffalo, Fort Providence, Northwest Territories, road trip

Jun 20 2013

Heading out on a #NWTRoadTrip

It pains me to see that my last blog post was on May 18. That was more than a month ago. I went to Ontario and have come back since then. And I did lots of cool things in Ontario.

I’m heading out in about an hour on a 13 day road trip through the South Slave and Deh Cho regions of the Northwest Territories. It has been sometime since I have been on a road trip, the last time I believe was to jasper in the summer of 2011. I have missed those days. I use to do a trip every year. Like the time I had my truck and camper in 2009:

DSC_0003

This time we are seriously tenting it. Oddly even in the Northern Frontier of the NWT some Territorial campgrounds only have powered sites. It is annoying to think that the road trippin, tentin, cram all the kids, stuff and the dog in the car days are over. Then again I suppose those who don’t need power, don’t need a campground either.

Possibly during my time meandering through the wilderness of the NWT I will be writing a series call Explore NWT on YkOnline.ca.

Buffalo on the run!!!

DSC_0043

NWT Border… which I wont actually be going to.

NWT Border

And of course my all time favourite camping photo to date. However on this trip it wont actually be getting dark. Just light, 24/7

Camp Life

When/if I do post things online you can follow #NWTroadtrip anywhere (Facebook, instagram, twitter) and see where I’m at.

Written by kylewith · Categorized: Travels · Tagged: Northwest Territories, NWT, nwtroadtrip, road trip, yellowknife

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