Alberta welcomes tourism delegates, despite freezing temperatures

CALGARY- Alberta’s deep freeze isn’t enough to deter tourism officials from welcoming a large delegate from overseas, in hopes of boosting the bottom line.

DERTOUR Academy has brought over 600 travel agents and journalists from Germany, Austria and other European countries to Alberta, to tour the best of the prairies.

Throughout the week, the group has spent time in Banff and Lake Louise, as well as Calgary landmarks like Heritage Park and the science centre.

“Yesterday we stayed in Canmore, it was very nice. We had a hiking tour, we went on the helicopter, it was exciting!” says travel agent Manuelr Lorenz.

“It’s pretty cool that we can be here and that we get the invitation from Alberta, so that’s great for us to go home and tell the people to come over,” adds Ralph Seidel, who is also a travel agent.

Officials from Travel Alberta expect their $800,000 investment will pay off.

“All previous hosts have told us we can expect anywhere from about a 15 to a 40 per cent lift in revenue at the very conservative end, and that means about $16 million dollars for extra income for Alberta,” explains Bruce Okabe.

Germany is Alberta’s second largest overseas market, and the average traveller spends an estimated $1,027 per person over 10 days.