Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives

Creating Opportunities Consultations

Adding Value in Rural and Northern Manitoba

 

Tourism

OPPORTUNITIES

The tourism industry in Manitoba continues to be a strong economic driver for the province. Manitoba boasts a number of natural resources and attractions that tourists from across the province, Canada and many foreign countries are drawn to. Tourism in Manitoba contributes an estimated $1.4 billion a year to our gross domestic product, sustains more than 18,000 direct jobs and supports more than 5,500 businesses.

The ability to add more value to tourism assets depends on our ability to meet the demand for specific types of tourism. Packaging tourism experiences better for specific target markets is crucial. Some of these target markets include ecological, heritage, lifestyle, agriculture and culinary tourism and recreational activities such as trails for walking, biking, etc.

Other opportunities identified in public consultations include:

• Further cottage developments
• Year-round tourism
• Snowmobiling
• Sport fishing
• Promotion of smaller tourism attractions

CHALLENGES

• Financial – Entrepreneurs and small businesses in the tourism industry are faced with the same difficulties in gaining access to financing as businesses in other sectors of the rural economy.
• Human Resources – Tourism operators could benefit from local customer service training programs. There is some need for increased community awareness about keeping tourist services open during holidays.
• Community Capacity – Individual communities may lack the facilities and expertise to accommodate larger events and out-of-province visitors.
• Infrastructure – There is a shortage of tourism infrastructure, such as recreational facilities, highspeed Internet and food and lodging services. Maintenance of existing infrastructure is also a concern. Improvements to highways and rail lines, as well to services for highway travelers are essential for promoting Manitoba and attracting visitors.
• Regulations – The quality and consistency of tourism accommodations in Manitoba is important to product development and marketing. The lack of workable industry standards makes it difficult for tourists to assess the quality of Manitoba accommodations when booking their trips. Some government regulations may limit tourism businesses (ex: food processing regulations may make it difficult to develop local food products for marketing to tourists).
• Other Barriers – The nature of tourism marketing is changing. There is heavier emphasis on the use of the Internet to promote products. The tourism industry needs to increase marketing skills and efforts. Small operators with limited budgets find it difficult to expand their tourism products due to the lack of affordable and co-operative marketing opportunities. Opportunities exist to promote tourism experiences that are not currently being packaged by operators. In communities where tourism is seasonal, there is a desire to find ways of promoting off-season tourism.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Governments, communities and the tourism industry should work together to:

• Continue to develop and to promote travel guides for distribution provincially, nationally and internationally that highlight the year-round tourism and recreational opportunities offered throughout the province.
• Encourage co-operation between small entrepreneurs and artisans, recreational and cultural facilities, and the accommodation and restaurant industries to create promotional tourism packages that focus on recreational and tourism experiences.
• Research web-based marketing techniques for helping tourism operators build their capacity for marketing effectively on the Internet.
• Work with private landowners to identify and to develop new tourism opportunities that take advantage of Manitoba’s culture, vast rural landscape, local climate and ecosystem.
• Develop, to maintain and to promote regional or provincial trail systems for year-round use, and to encourage tourism business development around those systems.
• Explore the concept of public goods and services that support tourism assets and the potential for economic development and revenue generation (ex: develop policies and programs to encourage development of trails and other recreational resources on private land for public use).
• Continue to open up and to offer cottage lot development opportunities across the province.

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