Contributions to tourism industry get recognized

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Individuals and groups involved in the tourism industry were honored recently at the fourth Prince Albert Tourism Awards.

Tourism in Prince Albert enjoyed a boost recently with the relocation of the Northern Lights Casino to its new location next to the Prince Albert Inn.

The recent announcement of a First Nation cultural tourism attraction for the area starting as soon as fall of 1998 means the industry may also be on the cusp of even bigger and better things.

Chief Leo Omani of the Wahpeton Dakota First Nation was one of the top winners at the awards. He was named Tourism Individual of the Year for his work in pushing for that First Nations cultural tourism project.

Omani was instrumental in working with the City of Prince Albert and four other area bands to form a joint venture to begin studying the idea two years ago.

"It is very heartwarming to accept this award on behalf of the membership of Wahpeton," he said.

He gave credit to band councillor Bev Waditaka for her volunteerism within the community and drew attention to other economic successes of the band, including partnership in the Prince Albert Inn, a local medical clinic and the band's bison operation.

Omani said since his people settled in the Prince Albert area in 1878, they have always been entrepreneurs in the city and area.

"It's always been in our hearts --- the entrepreneurial spirit of our parents and grandparents."

Omani reminded the crowd of the potential the First Nations Cultural Tourism Centre has and the planned loop tours to local reserves.

"There'll always be ignorant remarks, but the important thing is we'll always live and work close together," Omani said. "We might as well learn to love living together."

The evening was capped off with the naming of the Northern Lights Casino as the Tourism Business of the Year. The casino was nominated for its work in training hundreds of young people to work in the industry, and for the excellent customer service it provides, according to Wanda Carter of Prince Albert Tourism.

Cam Snyder, manager of the casino, said since moving to its new location, the casino has been attracting an average of 10 busloads of tourists a week. Roughly half of those tour groups are from Alberta, and another half from within Saskatchewan, he said. "Tourism drives this community," Snyder said. "Everyone in the province is after tourist dollars these days."

Snyder said it's tough to quantify the effect the casino has on the local economy, but he said numerous businesses have told him that they've noticed a difference since the casino expanded recently. Snyder said the casino is in the process of doing a customer survey to better understand where the clients are coming from and how much new business is coming.

He also noted that some of the money coming into Prince Albert through the casino finds its way back into the community in the form of sponsorships for sports and cultural events or donations to charity. Other award winners included: 1997 Tourism Volunteer Award - Marg and John Bodnarchuk; Tourism Organization Award - Jan Olesko and the executive of the Prince Albert Children's Festival; The Customer Service Award of Excellence (Business Employee Award) - Mike Weleski and Terry Pister; Customer Service Award of Excellence (Business Award) - McDonald's Restaurant; Customer Service Award of Excellence (Public Service Sector) - Gord Nelson, Dale Tolley, Aaron Vassle, Mark Ballantyne and Jason Hurd.