Alberta tourism has lost much of its lustre on the world stage in recent years, largely due to negative publicity over mad-cow disease and other issues that may have deterred people from visiting the province.

But there’s a newfound optimism in the industry, thanks to a massive 75-per-cent budget increase for tourism in 2005, and that has Economic Development Minister Mark Norris predicting a dramatic turnaround for the ailing $5-billion industry.

In July, Norris announced a revamping of Alberta’s hotel taxes. The five-per-cent accommodation surcharge will be eliminated effective March 31, 2005, and replaced by a four-per-cent tourism levy that will be funnelled into marketing and development of tourism, ensuring sustainable funding. As a result, the tourism budget for 2005 will be bolstered to $42.4 million and the budget is projected to increase to $48 for 2006.

Norris, the MLA for Edmonton-McClung since 2001, is zealously pitching the increase as a major boon – not only to the tourism industry, but also to the province’s economy as a whole.

1. What career did you aspire to as a youngster?

“I always wanted to be in business for myself and after university I joined the family business, which was an outdoor advertising company (Bench Advertising). I bought that business from my dad (Paul Norris) in 1990 and I sold to Jim Pattison in 2000. My dad was my mentor. He was always involved in some sort of entrepreneurial endeavour. I enjoyed the advertising business because it allowed me to deal with marketers and I always found it to be very creative.”

2. What initially sparked your interest in politics?

“I absolutely loved working for myself in business, but I got involved in politics after getting to know (Premier) Ralph Klein. As luck would have it, I lived in the same apartment building in Edmonton as Ralph Klein. I then became co-chairman of his (Conservative) leadership bid in 1992. I always knew politics was something I wanted to do. Public service was always something that was important to me.”

3. How has Premier Klein influenced you?

“I think the most outstanding thing I’ve learned is to listen to people. He’s remarkable at sort of getting all the facts and then making a decision, whereas I find that an awful lot of politicians come with a predetermined plan and then force people to go with it. He’s the other way around. I absolutely love what I’m doing (as economic development minister).”

4. What appeals to you most about your job?

“It allows me deal to with business, which is my background, and I love that. I see my role as the marketing arm of government to the world, so you couldn’t have a better job than that. The tourism file is one I certainly love because this is an incredibly diverse province and the people involved in the tourism industry are really driven.”

5. How important is the tourism industry to the Alberta economy?

“I don’t even know how to put a stamp on it. I’d say it’s remarkably important. It’s our fourth-largest industry – but what makes this industry different from others is that it employs so many people. Some 120,000 people make their living directly through tourism or tourism-related businesses. It’s also a great way to get people to come see your province and what it has to offer. For example, if a business guy from Switzerland goes to ski in Lake Louise, stops in Calgary and finds how cheap land is, he may choose to set up a business there.”

6. How would you characterize the state of the tourism industry in Alberta as it rebuilds from the difficult period over recent years?

“I would say we’re about two-thirds of the way through our rebuilding phase. I say that because recently we had the hotel tax converted to a marketing levy. This is a huge step. The industry wanted it and I as minister wanted it. This is going to allow planning for more than a year out. As a result, we’re going to get back into areas that we got out of because we didn’t have the money – areas such as Europe and the United States. I think tourism is set to just soar.”

7. What’s your vision for tourism in the province?

“Dollar-wise, we would like to see it grow to at least $6 billion in revenue by 2007. Right now, it sits at about $5 billion (projected 2004 revenue). Longer term, I’d like to see Alberta regain its status as a world-class premier destination. The Banff Springs was at one point, and still is to a certain degree, a world-class premier destination – but because of us letting the marketing dollars slip, there are so many other places in the world that have beaten us to the punch. I would love to see us to be either first or second on people’s minds when they say, ‘where am I going to go visit in Canada?’ It should be Alberta.”

8. What’s the key to achieving those goals?

“I think the key is to regain equity in the markets we’ve lost. Our three biggest markets after the United States are Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom. It takes an awful lot of money to go to the trade shows and get your message out. And I think that’s the first step we have to take to rebuild those opportunities. And we are. I’ve already seen it. We’re going to more trade shows and we’re advertising more heavily. I think that will go a long way toward rebuilding those lost markets.”

9. How significant is the budget increase for tourism in terms of its potential long-term impact?

“Oh, it’s very significant. The real nice thing about the way we’ve structured it is that the budget is based on whatever the hotel tax is in the previous year. So the industry now has a vested interest in making sure they do as great a job as possible because whatever that dollar is, that’s what they’re going to get. We’re going to go from about $24 million in spending to about $45 million right off the bat, and we project that could reach $60 million in the next five years. Those are significant dollars. That makes us a world-class player. I’m really proud of what we’ve done and, I’ll tell you, it was a concentrated effort from the folks at Calgary Tourism and Economic Development Edmonton (now Edmonton Economic Development Corp.)”

10. Is mad-cow disease still a major factor in deterring people from visiting Alberta?

“Talking to people in the industry, I don’t feel it’s that big of an issue any more. I think for the most part, people know that to Albertans and Canadians, food safety is crucial. I think there was a scare to the Japanese, but I think everybody understands now that we’ve dealt with it.”

11. What tourism market is most crucial in terms of growth prospects?

“I think most of the growth will come from the United States. I think we have to get back to southern California in a huge way. There’s some 30 million people down there who can hardly tell you where Alberta is. Texas is also a huge market and so is the Midwest, Minneapolis area and the Pacific Northwest.”

12. Do you believe Canada’s strained relations with the U.S. may hurt tourism, particularly with recent comments by Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish (Parrish said of Americans, “I hate those bastards.”)?

“It is strained and, as the economic development minister, I’ve done an awful lot of trade missions to the States.

“The first thing we do is try and let them know that we’re part of a federal system and we have a government in Ottawa that has certain views that generally don’t concur with ours. I think they’ve understood that. The comments I hear most is that they’ll do what they want to do anyway, but they don’t understand the personal attacks and they don’t understand why a leader wouldn’t rein in people who are calling them bastards and idiots and those kinds of things.”

13. What’s the most daunting challenge facing tourism in Alberta?

“We’ve got to get some more destinations or tourist attractions. The government’s not going to be behind that, obviously, but we have a role to play in helping people do it. And our challenge is to say, ‘What’s new in Banff, what’s new in Jasper?’ But there are other things to do in Alberta. For example, Drumheller is a remarkable opportunity. We just have to get a marketing plan that speaks to the whole province about what we can do. I think therein lies our biggest challenge. I guess what I’d really like to see is us use the strength of the Calgary Stampede, the West Edmonton Mall and the Rocky Mountains and trigger that to send people all over Alberta. What we’ve found through surveys is that people will come to the Stampede or the Mall, then go to the Rockies and then go to British Columbia. Our biggest challenge is to have them stay in Alberta and to give them reasons to stay. We figure that every tourist that stays one night is worth about $300 to the local economy. Our department is planning to make what we’re calling the Trails Out of Edmonton and Calgary, where you can go to places such as the Lac La Biche Mission or Drumheller or Fort Macleod.”

14. Is the province doing anything to preserve more of its wildlands as tourist attractions?

“I guess the quick answer to that is that we believe we’ve set aside enough special places. But we’re not allowed to develop in the national parks and we’re losing out hugely to British Columbia, where they have places such as Kicking Horse Pass, Kamloops, Sun Peaks and so on. Our challenge is going to be able to find ways to develop recreation areas where Albertans can stay in Alberta and take advantage of them. There’s also another problem where the local people have got to want it (development for tourism). You find some areas that really want to have tourism and economic development and others are pretty happy to be where they’re at. So you have to start from the ground up.”

15. What is the province doing to assist small businesses involved in tourism to succeed?

“There’s a wealth of resources they can use but, through Travel Alberta, we have a tour that goes out weekly and talks to tourism operators about how to market themselves better and how to make an experience a tourist will remember. And, for anybody who phones this department and wants to get some help with a business plan and those kinds of things, we have staff that are ready, willing and able to help.”

16. What is your outlook for the Alberta economy?

“My outlook is twofold.

It’s to build on the strengths we have with our big four industries – oil and gas, agriculture, forestry, and tourism – and use those as a springboard to diversify into things that will be sustainable forever.

“Oil and gas will be around as long as you and I are here, but it is a non-renewable resource so I’d like to see us get way, way more diversified into high-tech opportunities such as aviation, aerospace and information telecommunications. In Alberta, I don’t think we’re very good at patting ourselves on the back for everything that is going on with the economy. I don’t see a slowdown in this economy for the next 20 to 50 years based on the megaprojects that are going on, and it’s a great time to be in Alberta.”

17. What are the challenges in revitalizing the tech sector in Alberta?

“We have two problems we have to deal with. First of all, it’s access to post-secondary institutions. I think the last numbers I saw from SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) showed they had 4,000 students – and 12,000 applied. That’s a lot of great minds that may be going somewhere else. Then, there’s the venture-capital situation in Alberta that we definitely need to work on.

We have a number of patents coming from industry but then the local entrepreneur, because there’s not much of a venture capital setup here, ends up going places like San Jose, Calif., where it’s more attractive for raising venture capital. . . .”

18. What do you enjoy most about life in politics?

“Whenever I can help a constituent on a local level, I feel great about that. This is a big government and it’s a big province, so sometimes people don’t know where to turn. When we can solve their problems, I feel great about that. On the portfolio side, I absolutely love working with small-business people because they’re all very dynamic and positive.”

19. What’s your opinion about the continuing saga of corporate shenanigans involving high-profile individuals and companies such as Conrad Black and Hollinger International?

“It’s despicable, and I’ll tell you why. I think the majority of business people are honourable and very ethical. In my career as an entrepreneur, 95 per cent of the people I dealt with were great people. These things drag all of us down. If Conrad Black is guilty of what they’re alleging, that’s nothing more than petty theft. And that’s just despicable.”

20. Do you aspire to return to private business?

“I do. I’ve told my wife that I’ve got about 10 years in this game. I believe firmly that I’ll stick to that plan and then afterward I’d very much like to get back into private enterprise. Right now, I’m very anxious to get re-elected. Longer term, I see some really neat manufacturing opportunities. To me, housing on a global basis will probably be the issue of the 21st century. I’ve seen some really neat manufactured housing ideas and, when you look at countries such as China and India where only about three per cent of their population have suitable housing, you could really get into some interesting stuff.”

IN PROFILE: Mark Norris
* Title: Alberta Economic Development Minister; MLA, Edmonton-McClung.
* Born/raised/age: Edmonton/42.
* Education: St. Francis Xavier University (N.S.), bachelor's degree, arts and political science.
* Family: Wife Veronica, two children.
* Career: Norris was elected as the MLA for Edmonton-McClung in 2001 and subsequently appointed to cabinet. He previously owned Bench Advertising in Edmonton.
* Community Service: Norris is the past chair of ABC Headstart, a program for pre-kindergarten students. He is a former member of the Downtown Rotary Club. Other community involvement includes serving as the foundation chair of the Christmas Bureau, past board member of Grant McEwan College and past board member of the Edmonton Boy Scouts.
* Passions: Golf, badminton, bridge.

THE AGENCY: TRAVEL ALBERTA
* Profile: Travel Alberta is the destination marketing organization for the province with a mandate to increase the number of visitors to or within Alberta and the subsequent economic impact of tourism spending in the province. Alberta’s tourism framework is led by the Strategic Tourism Marketing Council (STMC), which is comprised of members appointed by the Alberta economic development minister, including three representatives of the provincial government.
* Fact: Tourism in Alberta employs more than 120,000 people.
* Website: www.travelalberta.com
* Visitor/Travel Information: P.O. Box 2500, Edmonton, Alta., T5J 2Z4.
* Phone/Fax: 1-800-ALBERTA(252-3782)/ 780-427-0867.
* E-mail: info@travelalberta.com' target='_new'>travelinfo@travelalberta.com
* Marketing Information/Tourism Industry: 500, 999 8th St. S.W., Calgary, Alta., T2R 1J5.
* Phone/Fax: 403-297-2700/297-5068.
* E-mail: info@travelalberta.com