CANMORE-KANANASKIS – After launching a new website earlier this year, Tourism Canmore Kananaskis (TCK) has worked toward understanding how the destination management organization's board should be structured and now its hoping to hear from industry stakeholders.
TCK held its annual general meeting earlier this month to discuss the progress its made over the past year, strategic plans and the upcoming industry stakeholder meetings.
CEO David Rodney said the organization is working with the Town of Canmore to ensure an all around better tourism experience, adding that in an unprecedented move, the Town has approved TCK’s strategic plan, a bridging document and roundtable composition.
“They actually passed three unanimous motions – never been done before,” said Rodney.
“They’re actively engaged with us and hopefully when it comes to restaurant, retail and other s… Do we want to work together for the benefit of our friends and neighbours and the people we serve or not? It’s growing every day, its been like climbing a few mountains at the same time, but we’re doing it.”
TCK has had a tumultuous five years. Operating as Canmore Business and Tourism until 2016, the organization's board of directors decided to shut down operations as a result of its unsustainable funding model and the inability of it, or town council to find a solution to the situation.
At its final AGM, however, representatives from Canmore's hotel and lodging sector stepped up to take over the organization and relaunched it as TCK, holding its first general meeting in 2018 as a refreshed organization under the direction of Rodney as CEO.
Rodney said since taking on the position, TCK has undertaken several community and stakeholder engagement opportunities to help it set a direction for its future. That direction includes establishing a board of directors that represents all sectors of the tourism economy and finding a sustainable funding model.
“We were honoured to have put on six open houses, 36 one-on-one interviews, 187 online surveys,” he said.
“We want the best quality of life that there is for our locals. Yes, we want incredible visitor experiences, but a happier local makes for a happier visitor.”
He added 75 per cent of the budget for those engagement sessions was covered by grants.
In terms of financials, a full audit for TCK was not presented at the AGM and has not yet been provided to the Outlook, however Joel Irwin, accountant at KPMG, said the audit went well.
“A couple of highlights from our audit and things that warrant emphasis – we did not note any instances of fraud during conduct of our work, “ said Irwin.
“We had full cooperation of management and the audit went smoothly.”
During the AGM, TCK showed that it has spent a total of $502,100 since the 2018 annual general meeting. Using a pie chart to illustrate the percentages and uses of the money, it indicated money was used to develop the new website (20 per cent), strategic plans (20 per cent), digital (23 per cent), social media organic (10 per cent), traditional (10 per cent), visitor’s guide (nine per cent), business development (four per cent) and content (four per cent).
TCK will be hosting three separate industry stakeholder meetings over the next month. The one for restaurants will be held Friday (Nov. 1) at 3:30 p.m; for adventure and activities, the meeting will be held Nov. 12 at 2 p.m., and for retail, the meeting will be held on Nov. 13 at 5 p.m. Visit explorecanmore.ca for more information or get in touch with a board member.
