Fort Smith, N.W.T., mulls how to make its town a tourism destination

Fort Smith, N.W.T., is looking for new ways to bring in tourists and the town's economic development office held a meeting last night to brainstorm ideas.

The evening started with five blank boards, waiting for suggestions on how to get there, accommodation, things to do, things to eat, and how to get around town.

The boards quickly filled up with ideas, from renting out trappers' cabins, to promoting Aboriginal cuisine, to offering aerial tours of Wood Buffalo National Park.

One hope among participants was that the world's biggest dark sky reserve, just south of town, may attract a new kind of tourist.

"This is a place where you can unplug, this is a place where you can get close to your soul," says James Heidema, chief operating officer for Northwestern Air Lease.

"This is a place where you can relate to our Indigenous people in a more pure setting."

The town has a long way to go if it wants to become a tourist hub.

Heidema estimates that at the moment, just 10 per cent of his passengers are coming for tourism.

"We're not on a direct route; we're sort of at the end of the line," he says.

"How do we attract them here? How do we get them to stay here? We have to have a pretty good message, a pretty good story to get people to come."

It's expensive to fly in, and far to drive for people coming from down south.

But one ongoing plan is to loop the community in with Edmonton's aspirations to be the "gateway to the North" —visitors could loop in a trip to Fort Smith with a visit to Hay River or elsewhere, using Edmonton as a jumping-off point.

The community consultations will resume on Dec. 5.