Branding, a business strategy and a bandsaw: $368K nets tourism goodies for Yellowknife

Yellowknife's tourism sector is getting a major boost, thanks to funding from the federal, territorial and municipal governments.

The Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) announced Thursday $248,000 with a further $51,000 coming from the city and $30,000 from the territorial government at Yellowknife city hall. The money will go to three initiatives:

• Snowking Winter Festival
• Jackpine Paddle's co-operative tripping business model
• City of Yellowknife's visitor services

N.W.T. MP Michael McLeod and Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty were at the announcement,along with Dan Wong, the owner of Jackpine Paddle and Tony Foliot, the creator of the Snowking Winter Festival.

Snowking gets new bling

Yellowknife's popular Snowking Winter Festival will get a $56,600 boost from CanNor, which will pay for a permanent heated structure for merchandise sales, a new bandsaw for better ice-cutting and castle promotions.

The March festival, which takes place inside an elaborate castle made of ice and snow, provides musical and cultural entertainment on Yellowknife Bay.

Foliot thanked CanNor for the investment and said he believes it's appropriate that his festival receive a piece of the cash.

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"When the city says, 'We are a winter city,' we should have something that represents that," he said.

"[We have] 24 years of 'snow' business and we know what we're talking about."

The Snowking festival is contributing an extra $14,200 to this project.

Jackpine Paddle goes 'co-operative tripping'

CanNor is investing $39,000 with an extra $30,000 coming from the territorial government in a new business model for local guiding company Jackpine Paddle.

The new business model will allow the company to provide guided paddling trips where "tourists contribute to the logistics of their own adventure," according to a press release.

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Wongsays that includes guests making and bringing their own food for their canoe trips.

"We're going to lower these trip costs and open up a new market," he said.

The money will also expand the company, creatingeight new jobs, according to CanNor.

"More visitors will be able to access guided expeditions into the mountains, tundra and taiga of the Northwest Territories," states the release.

City of Yellowknife gets visitor services, but no visitors centre

The city is poised to get interactive maps across the city that identify key tourism sights.

The maps will provide information in a number of languages, including Japanese, Chinese and Korean.

Money will also go to adding an "itinerary-building" feature into Yellowknife's "Pingstreet" app. The new feature will allow visitors to better plan their trips to the city.

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As well, the city will get money to promote its "Extraordinary YK" brand.

The investment for these initiatives comes in at $153,000 from CanNor and $51,000 from the city.

No money will be going to the development of a permanent visitors centre. The current visitors centreis still operating out of city hall's basement after the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre was vacated due to a sinking foundation.

When asked about the status of the city's new visitors centre, Alty assured reporters administration is still working on it.