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Vulcan beaming with pride |
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Written by Lethbridge Herald
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Wednesday, August 05 2009, 10:06 PM |
Vulcan, which has latched onto its Star Trek connections with both hands, might need to free up one of them to pat itself on the back.
This week the Vulcan Tourism and Trek station welcomed its 16,694 visitor through the doors this year, a new record.
And with just under five months remaining on the calendar, Dayna Dickens thinks the town can shatter last year’s record. The town’s tourism co-ordinator says its popularity with visitors can be linked directly to the exposure received when it attempted to have the premiere of the latest Star Trek movie shown in Vulcan despite the lack, of a movie theatre.
One of the planet Vulcan’s most famous, Leonard Nimoy, went to bat for the community and arrangements were made to bring busloads of locals up to Calgary for an advance showing and a chance to meet one of the stars.
Dickens notes some of their success in attracting visitors this year may be due to more Albertans looking to vacation closer to home and explore some of the attractions they might have overlooked in their own back yard.
“According to our visitor stats, 40 per cent of our guests are originating in Calgary and southern Alberta, says Dickens in a release. “Being only one hour drive from both Calgary and Lethbridge, Vulcan is an ideal destination for daytripping families looking for a fun activity.”
Activities centre around the Vulcan Tourism and Trek Station, a unique tourist info centre with a one-of-a-kind Vulcan Space Adventure virtual reality game.
Vulcan, with a population of just under 2,000, has hitched its star to its space connections, a move an international tourism expert gives a thumbs-up to.
Earlier this summer Roger Brooks, founding member of Destination Development, a tourism and economic development company in Seattle, visited the community and surrounding area to assess how well it was promoting its Star Trek theme.
He told town officials and business people they need to do even more to market themselves in that light. Brooks recommended more related activities and tie-ins to bring visitors from the tourist centre to the businesses, whether it be restaurants offering Star Trek-themed food, or building a Star Trek Hall of Fame to honour the actors involved in the movies and TV series.
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