Several communities south of Edmonton want more tourists to stop and visit rather than simply drive through them.
The Leduc-Nisku Economic Development Association released a request for proposals calling for a consultant to prepare an economic impact analysis and recommendations for a tourism strategy for the International Region.
The region is defined as Leduc County, the City of Leduc, the Towns of Beaumont, Calmar and Devon as well as the Villages of Warburg and Thorsby.
“The analysis will define and assess the tourism industry as an economic driver and cluster in Alberta’s International Region and provide recommendations for the development of tourism activities in the region,” the request for proposal reads.
The association said it wants help to diversify the region’s economy to include tourism, which will provide more economic drivers for hotels, restaurants and other hospitality providers in the area. It said their revenue mainly comes from the energy and energy-related sectors.
“This project will provide us an enhanced ability to accurately assess all aspects of the economy on the region, and support industries beyond our core historical focus of energy, agriculture, advanced manufacturing and logistics and transportation,” the document reads.
The association said Leduc County is currently not focused on tourism as an economic driver and Calmar, Warburg and Thorsby are not focused on tourism activities. It said the City of Leduc has sports tourism, Beaumont has community and sports events and Devon has bike and outdoor events.
The analysis should include numbers of visitors attracted, the impact of events regionally and per community, the impact to GDP, employment in the tourism industry and the impact of the Edmonton International Airport.
The project has a budget of $50,000.
The contract is expected to start May 1 and be completed by Oct. 31.
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