Complete: With the resounding success of David Chilton — “The Wealthy Barber” — speaking at Manitoba Ag Days, organizers will be looking to expand its non-agricultural attractions next year to draw even bigger crowds.

With approximately 37,000 visits over the three-day show, North America’s largest indoor agricultural event was “fantastic,” according to board member Kristen Philips.

“We feel the theatres had phenomenal attendance, every single room has been full,” she said.

“The red carpet has been packed, so that’s what we want. We want exhibitors to get the opportunity to talk to lots of people and they feel like they have.”

Organizers are always looking to grow the event, Philips said, and it will be focusing on the speaking attractions for next year.

“We’re talking about maybe doing more high-profile speakers,” she said. “We saw how having an inspirational or motivational speaker really drew the crowd to Ag Days, and we think bringing them here gets visitors in the door and gets them looking at the booths.”

She said all 47 of this year’s speakers were very well attended and want to see more urban visitors at the show next year.

“You don’t have to be farmer to come, we want everybody to come and take in Ag Days and learn about agriculture.”

Debra Hanna, exhibitor with KNR Ag Sales and Service out of Brunkild, said the event began on Tuesday with huge crowds, and quickly slowed by the final day — typically the day shoppers break out the chequebooks for big-ticket items.

“I think there was a lot of people here overall,” said Hanna, who has been a regular exhibitor for six years. “It’s always a good show.”

“Wednesday was a lot slower than it typically is.”

The show can only grow so big, with booths occupying nearly every square foot of the Keystone Centre, there was 100 exhibitors on the waiting list this year.

“If we could expand, we would,” Philips said.

During the three-day event, Brandon’s hotels and restaurants are packed, and Philips said the show can only grow by so much without accommodations for visitors.

“We know we have a huge impact, and if we could get another two hotels in Brandon, we can get more people,” she said, adding people stayed in surrounding areas such as Virden and Souris, and drove into the city to attend the event.

Planning for next year’s show starts at the beginning of February, but Philips didn’t give any details around what will be planned.

“We hope to have the amphitheatre back, which definitely gives us lots of opportunities, we may run three speaking areas (instead of two),” she said.

http://www.brandonsun.com/local/big-turnout-thrills-event-organizers-187432831.html?thx=y

For a polar bear named after a northern Manitoba body of water, you could almost say it will be a homecoming when it soon arrives at the Assiniboine Park Zoo.

Hudson, a 15-month-old, 186-kilogram polar bear born and raised at the Toronto Zoo, will arrive in Winnipeg in about two weeks, zoo officials announced on Thursday.

"I think it's great," said zoo visitor Elliot Hanowski as he braved the cold and wandered through the facility. "It's a fitting idea to have Arctic animals here. Why (put) tropical animals here when we have a cold climate?"

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/cold-reception-planned-for-bear-187421221.html

Complete: The Winnipeg Art Gallery is pleased to announce the appointment of Judy Slivinski as Director of Development and Marketing effective January 14, 2013.  Working with the Executive Director, Slivinski will oversee all aspects of a comprehensive development program with emphasis on major gifts and program sponsorship, building strong member relationships and strategic partnerships in the local and national community. She will also oversee the Gallery’s marketing and communications department. “Judy Slivinski has been deeply involved in the arts and cultural sector right across the country for many years,” says WAG Executive Director Stephen Borys, “and brings a wealth of experience to her new position. For the past three years she has served on the WAG’s Centennial Committee so she is very familiar with our operations. We look forward to working with her and know she will be great asset to the Gallery.” 

Pamela Simmons, the WAG’s current Director of Development, will become the Inuit Art and Learning Centre Capital Campaign Director, responsible for implementing the WAG’s $45 million capital campaign that is expected to change the face of visual arts and culture in Winnipeg.  She has extensive experience in fund development and public relations and most recently helped the WAG achieve a record fundraising goal for its Centennial year activities. 

Judy Slivinski holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Manitoba and was an active lawyer and Magistrate for the Provincial Court of Manitoba. She has been involved in the arts since 1995 when she created her own consulting firm to provide support to the arts and cultural community across Canada. She worked with Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers, first as International Liaison for a tri-country collaborative dance project, then as Executive Director. She has served on the Board of the Cultural Human Resources Council in Ottawa where she chaired a pan-Canadian self-employed working group that developed a guide which is used as a learning tool by artists across the country. Slivinski is the co-author of  Face of the Future, a national study on human resource conditions of Canadian culture workers, and of Creative Manitoba—An Economic Development Strategy for the Cultural Sector.  She has been the Program Co-ordinator for the Arts and Cultural Management Certificate Program, University of Winnipeg; Arts Management Consultant with the Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism (Arts Branch); and is a Founding Member of the Arts and Cultural Industries Association of Manitoba and arts Consultants Canada (Toronto). For the past two years Slivinski has been Senior Director of Marketing and Development for Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

http://wag.ca/

Arctic Bay, Nunavut, is making plans to revive its tourism industry after a ban on filming at the floe edge caused at least one major tour operator to take its business elsewhere.

The community’s Hunters and Trappers Organization banned filming at the floe edge in May 2007 in response to a National Geographic article on the narwhal hunt that they felt portrayed the community in a negative light.

Clare Kines, Arctic Bay's economic development officer, said the community has since agreed they want to see more visitors.

They hope to create a community tourism office that would allow several community members to act as guides or outfitters without having to create, market and advertise their own businesses.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/story/2013/01/17/north-arctic-bay-tourism.html

VANCOUVER - Mother Nature appears to be slowly turning on the taps again at some B.C. hot springs damaged by an earthquake last fall.

Parks Canada announced Thursday that hot-water seeps near two pools in Gwaii Haanas National Park have been observed below the tide line by scientists, and thermal activity has been detected — but not to previous levels — in all other areas where it once occurred.

The park is located on southern Haida Gwaii's Moresby Island and other islands off B.C.'s northwest coast.

Water flow and thermal activity at the naturally sourced hot springs stopped in October following a 7.7-magnitude earthquake and aftershocks.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/parks-canada-says-warm-water-detected-again-at-quake-damaged-bc-hot-springs-187381581.html

[CHARLOTTETOWN, PE] — The Tourism Industry Association of P.E.I. (TIAPEI) believes those visiting the province’s National Park should pay on their way out, not on their way in.

TIAPEI has presented a formal proposal to Parks Canada asking the national body to consider charging people as they leave instead of stopping them as they go in.

Don Cudmore, executive director of TIAPEI, says it’s their opinion more people would use the National Park is they didn’t have to pay the flat rate.

Right now, for example, it costs a family of four $19.60 to enter P.E.I.’s National Park. Under a new proposed rate adjustment that same family will pay $20.58 this summer, if the rate adjustments are approved.

http://www.pe.dailybusinessbuzz.ca/Provincial-News/2013-01-17/article-3158479/PE%3A-Tourism-industry-lobbies-for-pay-leaving,-not-entering-national-park/1

An Interview:

Would you visit a penitentiary as a tourist? I went to Alcatraz and found it fascinating.

I actually think there’s merit. I have attended some prisons in England, or castles where a portion of them at one time were prisons. The question is whether you can recreate the folklore and the drama that would cause people to come in for more than just a physical plant tour. A physical plant tour of any building is going to be somewhat plain. But if they can tell some of the stories without resorting to the macabre …

I’m not looking to that kind of marketing plan. But there are stories of real Canadians. I was over on Ellis Island just a few months ago and it was the stories and how they personalized it that made Ellis Island interesting as opposed to the physical plant.

The Kingston Pen was opened in 1835. There are undoubtedly historical facts and stories on which to build tourism. In the opinion of some, the place is a stain on our history, so we should level it. Is that short-sighted?

I think it’s extremely short-sighted. The asset is already there. It’s an iconic piece if Canadian history. We have a habit, as Canadians, of tearing things down. Calgary, unfortunately, has very few old buildings. I own a hundred-year-old home in Calgary, and it’s considered one of the true cultural classic heritage homes. And it’s only a hundred years old.

When I go over to England, to Derby, there’s a bar we sit in that opened in 1635!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/w-brett-wilson-on-turning-kingston-penitentiary-into-a-tourist-attraction/article7497381/

CHICAGO, Ill. - Hotel real estate investors, who unlocked capital and aggressively bid on hotel assets in 2012, are expected to increase their buying activity in 2013.The abundance of equity capital and improving debt markets will support a buoyant market for hotel trades this year. Americas hotel transaction volume for the year is expected to surpass the $17.5 billion that 2012 netted, with a moderate increase to $18.5 billion[i], according to initial results from Jones Lang LaSalle's annual Hotel Investment Outlook report.

The Hotel Investment Outlook report is a forward-looking, global analysis which tracks key factors affecting the hotel investment market. The Americas highlights include:

Competition for high-quality assets will push up capital values and drive down yields

Strong re-emergence of hotel financing will be driven by CMBS Private equity funds to be the largest net buyers of hotels in 2013

http://www.eturbonews.com/33106/americas-hotel-transaction-volume-eclipse-2012-185-billion-2013

(Excerpts from an article published originally in the WFP, Jan.  '69)

A government-commissioned report predicts that the village of Lac du Bonnet could become more than five times its present size as the regional centre of a new development area. The report forecasts major developments in industry and tourism in the Lac du Bonnet – Pinawa region where a population of 27,580 is projected for the year 2001. Accompanying the growth would be the establishment of new schools and medical centres and the possibility of the area getting its own transit system and air landing strip. The 80-page report, which may spark a big development program in the area, is entitled: Lac du Bonnet — The Regional Centre. A policy plan for the year 2001. Commissioned by the provincial government, in conjunction with the newly -formed Eastman Regional Development Corporation, the report was prepared by a nine-man graduate study group from the department of city planning at the University of Manitoba. It is the result of extensive studies carried out in the region last summer and forms the basis for the students' theses for their master's degree. The report sees the neighboring centres of Lac du Bonnet and Pinawa becoming the focus for future development in an area which would also include the town of Beausejour, the villages of Whitemouth, Pine Falls and Great Falls, the rural municipality of Whitemouth, part of the rural municipality of Brokenhead, and the local government district of Alexander….         …Working on projections that Manitoba will earn $30 million from tourism in the year 2001, the report says, "Since the study area contains four of the province's major parks, it can be assumed that approximately $7 1/2 million will be spent on tourism in the Lac du Bonnet-Pinawa area by 2001. On the premise that an annual tourist revenue of $440,000 is equivalent to a basic industry employing 100 persons, the region now has 570 basic employees which will' increase to 1,800 by 2001."