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Tourism alliance selected for award

The Central Alberta Tourism Alliance (CATA) has been selected as a finalist in two Travel Alberta marketing awards categories.

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The Central Alberta Tourism Alliance (CATA) has been selected as a finalist in two Travel Alberta marketing awards categories: Collaborative Tourism and Marketing Partnership.

The alliance is a group of eleven communities (Lacombe, Olds, Ponoka, Sylvan Lake, Rocky Mountain House, Innisfail, Blackfalds, Red Deer and the Counties of Red Deer, Clearwater and Lacombe) that came together to foster the growth of tourism and provide economic diversification for Central Alberta. They worked together to develop a Destination Management Plan (DMP) for central Alberta and are working together with local tourism operators to implement it. Their efforts are being recognized. The annual Alto Awards competition is sponsored by Travel Alberta and recognizes individuals and organizations that demonstrate excellence and are committed to enriching Alberta’s tourism industry.

CATA has demonstrated what strong inter-municipal and partner collaboration looks like. It takes collaboration to build a strong DMP and it takes real partnership to successfully implement it.

“Online public engagement, stakeholder interviews, workshop participation and input from hundreds of tourism stakeholders was used in creating the Ccntral Alberta DMP,” says Vicki Kurz, CATA chairperson.

“The plan provides an up-to-date identification of key target markets and a comprehensive summary of our competitive advantages for tourism. It proposes and makes the case for how we can enhance the capacity of our destination by creating a desired future and a road map to reaching it.”

As the alliance continues to collaboratively work to implement the 10 key strategies including over 120 prioritized actions identified in the plan, it is realizing and achieving a shared vision of tourism growth in central Alberta. With tourism growth communities, businesses and individuals will experience the real economic, social and environmental benefits that tourism has to offer.

Clique Hotels and Resorts and the Alberta Culinary Tourism Alliance are the other finalists in the Collaborative Tourism category. The Motorcycle Ride to Reynolds at the Reynolds-Alberta Museum and the Timber Falls Hotel Package at Calgary’s Calaway Park are also finalists in the Marketing Partnership award category. The winners will be announced at the Travel Alberta Alto Awards Gala on Oct. 24.

Contact: Stephen Novak, economic development officer, Town of Ponoka, Member - Central Alberta Tourism Alliance, T 403 783 0116, stephen.novak@ponoka.ca or Liz Taylor, executive director, Tourism Red Deer, 403-346-0180, liz@tourismreddeer.com.