Northern Tourism Strategy Progress Report 2023–24
Manitoba encompasses Treaty 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 Territories and communities who are signatories to Treaties 6 and 10. Manitoba is located on the ancestral land of the Anishinaabeg, Anishininewuk, Dakota Oyate, Denesuline and Nehethowuk Nations and is the Homeland of the Red River Métis. Northern Manitoba includes lands that were and are the ancestral lands of the Inuit.
Travel Manitoba respects the spirit and intent of Treaties and Treaty Making and remains committed to working in partnership with First Nations, Inuit and Métis people in the spirit of truth, reconciliation and collaboration.
GANGLER’S NORTH SEAL RIVER LODGE
Background
Last updated in 2021, the Northern Manitoba Tourism Strategy strives to address the profound need for industry recovery and acknowledge the advancements made while aligning with provincial tourism and economic development strategies. It outlines an ambitious target of rebuilding the northern tourism visitor economy to 2019 levels by 2024. Strongly matched with the goals of the Manitoba Tourism Strategy and the Indigenous Tourism Strategy, it identifies Indigenous, water-based, wilderness and wildlife experiences as priorities for development and marketing.
The updated strategy focuses on retaining and expanding the visitor experience base in the North, enhancing consumer marketing through more targeted approaches and building community leadership. This will be achieved through strong partnerships with northern regional economic development agencies, allied organizations such as Indigenous Tourism Manitoba, and northern operators.
Northern Manitoba is defined, for tourism purposes, to be the region of Manitoba north of the 53rd parallel. It is a vast territory comprising 60 per cent of the land area of Manitoba, and has a strong foundation in tourism thanks to world-class wildlife viewing in Churchill and established hunting and fishing operators across the region. The natural assets include thousands of lakes, vast boreal forest, major tracts of Laurentian Shield and a sub-Arctic region bordering Hudson Bay.
The purpose of this annual progress report is to provide an update on the progress made towards the strategic initiatives outlined in the Northern Manitoba Tourism Strategy. This report highlights the major accomplishments and key performance indicators for the 2023–24 fiscal year. By documenting these achievements and identifying areas for improvement, this report aims to ensure continued progress with the overarching objectives of the strategy.
Major Accomplishments
STRATEGIC GOAL 1: LEAD BRAND AND MARKET POSITIONING
Key Initiatives:
Align messaging and marketing initiatives under the umbrella of the “Canada’s Heart is Calling” brand.
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
50,000 direct mail brochures featuring northern Manitoba were distributed in the fall of 2023 to key markets in Winnipeg, Brandon, Portage la Prairie, Steinbach and Morden-Winkler. A follow-up survey found that 83 per cent of those respondents who recalled seeing the brochure were motivated to consider a trip to northern Manitoba. This was an 8 per cent increase over previous surveys.
Travel Manitoba’s Fall and Winter 2023–24 digital and social campaigns generated 4.4 and 2.2 million impressions, respectively. The click-through rate on social media posts was 2.24 per cent, significantly higher than the industry standard of 0.06 per cent.
Travel Manitoba drove significant increases in winter traffic to Churchill by partnering with Destination Canada on a collective northern lights marketing campaign targeting key U.S. markets.
Travel Manitoba’s marketing efforts resulted in significant global earned media exposure with numerous articles focusing on polar bears (Travel & Leisure), wolves (Canadian Geographic), beluga whales (CNN, Free Men’s World and Qantas), Indigenous northern lights experiences (Conde Nast Traveler), and subarctic hunting and angling experiences (Daily Mail).
Achieved a recovery in visitation to Manitoba’s lakes and lodges through participation in Destination Canada’s Prairie Angling Program. This post-pandemic recovery program targeted visitors from key U.S. states including North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan. For the first time, sales of non-resident angling licenses in Manitoba (21,468 sold in 2023) exceeded 2019 levels (20,795 sold in 2019).
STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED
Destination Canada, Travel Manitoba, Travel Yukon and Northwest Territories Tourism
Destination Canada, Tourism Saskatchewan and Hunt Fish Manitoba
Travel Manitoba
Communicate the value of tourism to business leaders, government and the general public.
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Travel Manitoba has commissioned an economic impact study on the value of Churchill’s tourism industry. This comprehensive analysis will include interviews with tourism operators, a survey of local residents’ perceptions of tourism and an analysis of visitor spending. The study will be released in 2024–25.
Support tourism development and marketing.
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Previous investments made through Travel Manitoba’s Place Brand program laid the groundwork for establishing tourism industry committees in both Thompson and Flin Flon.
STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED
Travel Manitoba, The Town of Churchill, Churchill Chamber of Commerce and northern tourism operators
STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED
Travel Manitoba, Thompson Community Development Corporation and Flin Flon, Denare Beach and Creighton (FDC) Regional Economic Development Commission
STRATEGIC GOAL 2: BUILD COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP
Key Initiatives:
Collaborate with the Northern Manitoba Tourism Advisory Committee to implement a strategy and coordinate initiatives.
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Travel Manitoba organized and funded two virtual meetings and one in-person meeting of the Northern Manitoba Tourism Advisory Committee in 2023–24.
A survey of committee members was conducted in the spring of 2024 to help inform the future direction and structure of the committee.
STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED
Travel Manitoba, Community Futures, Community Economic Development FundLook North, Indigenous Tourism Manitoba
(ITM), Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, FDC Regional Economic Development Commission and northern tourism operators
Build community capacity to develop, market and promote tourism at a regional level.
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Funding provided through Travel Manitoba’s Place Brand initiative was instrumental in establishing local tourism committees in Flin Flon and Thompson. These organizations are partnering to develop regional tourism products showcasing the North in all four seasons.
STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED
Travel Manitoba, FDC Regional Economic Development Commission and Thompson Community Development Corporation
Develop plans for communicating and advocating on key issues to municipalities, chambers of commerce and business leaders.
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Travel Manitoba partnered with the FDC Regional Economic Development Commission to deliver a tourism industry update to the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce northern economic development tour to Flin Flon and Snow Lake.
Travel Manitoba facilitated a planning session at the Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters Association’s fall annual general meeting. The session examined the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the hunt/fish sector. The results and feedback of this session will directly inform Travel Manitoba’s new Hunt Fish initiatives related to this sector.
Travel Manitoba commissioned a tourism workforce study involving interviews with 30 frontline tourism operators and a survey of over 800 Manitobans to better understand the needs and challenges in Manitoba’s tourism labour market. The study identified several challenges unique to the North, including hiring and retention in remote areas, seasonality and the logistics and cost of transportation.
STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED
Travel Manitoba, FDC Regional Economic Development Commission and Manitoba Chambers of Commerce
Travel Manitoba and Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters Association
Travel Manitoba
STRATEGIC GOAL 3: ADVANCE DESTINATION MANAGEMENT
Key Initiatives:
Develop tourism-readiness checklists and training tools.
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Travel Manitoba is developing an online business and community development portal which includes a tourism readiness checklist and training materials. The new site will be launched in 2024–25.
STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED
Travel Manitoba and tourism operators
Develop an inventory of tourism products and assess export-readiness in key opportunity areas such as Indigenous, Francophone, water-based experiences and attractions, and winter.
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Travel Manitoba completed a tourism readiness assessment for northern operators and presented the results at a northern tourism advisory committee meeting. Nearly 190 northern tourism operations were assessed as part of this process, with 39 per cent identified as market-ready and 34 per cent assessed as export-ready. Progress will continue to be monitored going forward on an annual basis.
Destination area assessments, last updated in 2017, were completed for Thompson and Churchill highlighting growth and changes in the industry post-pandemic.
Senior management from Travel Manitoba met with representatives from several northern development agencies to further the goal of better understanding each other’s respective tourism roles, exploring ways of strengthening partnerships and reducing program overlap with a specific focus on tourism development.
STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED
Travel Manitoba
Travel Manitoba and Northern Tourism Advisory Committee
Travel Manitoba, Community Futures North Central Development, Community Futures Greenstone, Communities Economic Development Fund/Look North and ITM
Conduct a competitive assessment and gap analysis.
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Travel Manitoba participated in the development of a comprehensive regional tourism strategy for the Flin Flon region and subsequent needs assessments of two dozen existing and potential operators in the Manitoba/ Saskatchewan border region.
STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED
FDC Regional Economic Development Commission, Travel Manitoba and Tourism Saskatchewan
Develop winter tourism plans for key opportunity areas including ice fishing and snowmobiling.
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Travel Manitoba funded a snowmobile tourism summit in Snow Lake that led to the development of an updated 2023–2026+ northern snowmobile tourism strategic plan.
STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED
Travel Manitoba, SledMB53, Community Futures North Central Development and Snoman
Trail development between the communities of Snow Lake and Cranberry Portage was completed in early 2024 and forms the final link in a connected network of groomed trails running from The Pas to Gillam. Travel Manitoba provided some funding towards the completion of this project.
Partnered with Snoman to commission a snowmobiling economic and market potential study.
Partner with ITM and Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC) to increase the number of Indigenous market- and export-ready businesses in the North.
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Indigenous operator gatherings were held in The Pas/ Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) and Churchill. Organized by ITM, these sessions fostered mentorship and introduced local Indigenous operators to more advanced concepts including market readiness and working with travel trade.
STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED
ITM, Travel Manitoba, Churchill Northern Studies Centre and northern tourism operators
Conclusion and Next Steps
Travel Manitoba and its partners have made significant advancements towards industry-wide recovery following the devastating effects of the global pandemic. Manitoba’s angling sector has recovered to 2019 levels, Churchill’s northern lights tourism has grown substantially to represent a true third-season offering and investments in advancing our understanding of the economics of snowmobiling and the Churchill economy will establish benchmarks for future tourism development.
Building upon the strengths of the Northern Manitoba Tourism Strategy in the coming year, Travel Manitoba will:
• Incorporate valuable feedback to strengthen the Northern Tourism Advisory Committee by reviewing committee representation and developing a Terms of Reference to guide future activities.
• Leverage the results of the Churchill Economic Impact Study to support the community’s desire to become a true four-season destination.
• Expand experiential tourism product offerings in northwestern Manitoba by partnering with the Flin Flon – Denare Beach – Creighton Economic Development Commission’s Experiential Tourism Accelerator Program (ETAP).
• Foster the continued development of regional tourism committees in Thompson, Flin Flon, and The Pas/Opaskwayak Cree Nation.