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Writing-on-Stone a top destination |
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Written by Lethbridge Herald
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Sunday, July 26 2009, 10:55 PM |
The rest of Canada is apparently catching on to what southern Albertans have long known about Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park.
The Milk River-area attraction has made Canada’s Top 10 Hidden Travel Gems list in a Canadian Tourism Commission campaign designed to encourage tourists to check out some of the roads less travelled.
Gisele Danis says some Canadian travellers mistakenly think they’ve seen it all once they’ve taken in the three Ms — moose, mountains and Mounties.
“We’re surprising a lot of people,” says Danis, head of marketing with CTC. “We saw a lot of ‘no, that’s not in Canada! We didn’t know they had hoodoos in Canada.’ They thought (the Writing-on-Stone photo) was in the Grand Canyon.”
The “Locals Know” campaign had Canadians coast-to-coast submit photos online of their favourite spot in their own backyard. The top spots were detemined by the number of hits on photos of each location posted, with Georgian Bay in Tobermory, Ont. topping the polls and Writing-on-Stone fifth.
The CTC sees a ‘view’ or hit on the Writing-on-Stone photo (www.localsknow.ca) as an indication that a would-be tourist is either interested in checking out that locale, has been there before or is at least intrigued by the beauty of the image.
“We’re hoping someone who is planning to go to Calgary and the Rockies would see those hoodoos and say, ‘let’s add that to the Rockies experience,’” says Danis.
The website includes a snippet of information about each photo, with the blurb on Writing-on-Stone including “this spot will make you feel like you’re in another world” . . . and “where the spirit world meets our physical one.”
Viewers were also encouraged to post their own comments about each photograph, with one calling our local spot a “uniquely Alberta landscape. What stands out for me on our last visit was swimming in the warm, aptly-named Milk River, and the sound of the nighthawks at dusk.”
The campaign has since included a site where viewers can check out 30 celebrity favourites with testimonials from the likes of actor Gordon Pinsent (favouring Cape Spear, N.L.) and Olympic medalist Adam Van Koeverden (Algonquin Park, Ont.).
The beauty of the campaign, however, is comments and stories from everyday people in every corner of the country, says Danis. That’s why the tourism commission decided not to go with a glitzy production and travel suggestions from some ‘expert’ in their office.
“We don’t know the country like locals do so why not turn it over to them. They trust each other and they’re much more credible,” she says.
People can still share their favourite destination by logging onto the website until July 31.
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