With the hills starting to turn green, many crops in the fields, leaves on the trees, flowers in the beds and a bright blue sky overhead, it can’t be anything but the start of another beautiful and educational tourist season.
In fact, Saskatchewan Tourism Week is just around the corner, running from May 26 to 30, an annual kick-off to what tourist operators hope will be a banner year as far as visitor numbers and economic values are concerned.
It is a given that tourist folks also hope the excitement of this opening of the official tourist season will continue to build and grow through June to the Labour Day weekend, and then beyond into the “shoulder season,” the time of year when most attractions are closed but senior travellers like to hit the road looking for scenic spots and event-related activities.
Years and years ago we didn’t think of ourselves as tourists when we took a summer vacation. We were simply “on holidays,” pitching a tent in an unserviced campground or visiting the relatives until the welcome became worn and ran out.
Sometimes the summer vacation was merely a trip to a bigger city where we might visit a museum or eat in a restaurant rather than packing our lunch to eat at a roadside turnout, where there was a communal bathroom in a shack.
Gradually, it dawned on someone with some savvy and marketing skills that vacationers should be acknowledged as tourists, worthy of the open arms of welcome and friendship in the places they stopped.
Those same smart and crafty individuals also realized the truth in “build it and they will come” and encouraged development of various attractions that would entice visitors to stop and maybe stay a day or two to explore other opportunities in the same or nearby communities. Tourist groups were formed and operated individually, then were merged into government agencies, then thrown back into the pile to become membership-driven with some hand-holding and encouragement from Big Brother and Big Sister.
Now tourism is big business, and figures from 10 years ago show that Saskatchewan attracts more than 13.6 million visitors annually, puts $2.37 billion into the economy in 2017 and provides jobs for 67,000 employees. Not a bad growth from a tent in a lakeside campground to what tourists are offered today.
We in our household, have had many experiences as tourists in North America. We can be identified as tourists by the camera around Housemate’s neck, the speed at which we make our way through unfamiliar communities looking at the sights and by the awe and appreciation with which we look at what is offered for visitors at our various stops.
We do our research before we venture out, but there is nothing to beat person-to-person conversations with tourist officials or ordinary citizens who realize we’re from away and are proud to tell us where to go and how to get there.
Housemate suggests getting lost is the best way to see the unexpected, so we’ve been unexpectedly and happily surprised on more occasions than we should admit.
His holiday happiness is photographing wildlife and old buildings, plus browsing through collections at small town and big city museums. And finding homemade pie to enjoy.
My vacation delights are clean motel rooms, full-service gas stations with attendants who wash all the car windows and lift the windshield wipers, decent signage on strange roads and regional cuisine not readily available at home.
We hope tourist leaders in small communities make sure that attraction operators understand that tourists do not operate on a nine-to-five schedule. That means would-be tourist attractions should align their hours to accommodate the visitors.
Closing the doors of museums and eating establishments on Saturday and Sunday makes little sense in the long-term viability of tourism outlets.
Outdated advertisements should be cancelled or killed on whatever platforms are being used.
And don’t forget to train staff in the basics: the location of the washrooms, and where the rodeo grounds might be located in the community.
Surprisingly, the people at home are sometimes the worst ambassadors for their communities. A zippy tourism group engaged with the community might change some of that lacklustre treatment of tourism visitors.
Tourists: start your engines and begin your travels. There is much to see and do.
Joyce Walter can be reached at [email protected]
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
