The Northern Manitoba tourism industry will have the chance to sing its own praises with the Northern Manitoba Tourism Awards, which will be presented at the Kikiwak Inn in Opaskwayak Cree Nation April 24.
Nominations for the awards are open until April 10 and must be submitted online at https://manitobatourismawards.awardsplatform.com/.
There are five categories for the awards – innovation of the year, Indigenous tourism, event of the year, a partnership award and an ambassador award of distinction – and it is possible for one tourism operator or event north of the 53rd parallel to win more than one category.
Travel Manitoba CEO Colin Ferguson says similar regional awards have been handed out for years in other regions of the province but these are the first northern awards during his tenure with organization, which dates back 10 years.
“It’s the first that I’m aware of and I think that it may actually be the first ever so I think we can certainly say that it’s the inaugural Northern Manitoba Tourism Awards,” Ferguson says. “We do this in other parts of the province but the north had been, for whatever reason, somewhat overlooked in past years so Travel Manitoba took it upon themselves to start the process and see what kind of reaction we can get. We’ve been spending a great deal of time in the north trying to grow tourism in the north, to explain to a number of audiences the value of tourism in the north as an economic driver, the value of tourism in the north as an employer and the like and we’re starting to see more and more businesses taking root and those that are already in business upping their game so it’s a pretty exciting time for the north. We thought we would celebrate it with some awards.”
Judging will be completed in the two days after nominations close and the winners will be contacted on April 12.
“If you’re successful in winning, those nominations, I believe, are forwarded on to the Manitoba Tourism Awards,” Ferguson said. “Based on the number of nominations that have come in, we’re expecting a pretty good turnout. We’re very pleased with the enthusiasm that these northern tourism awards have actually generated so that’s very exciting and we’re anticipating we’ll get a good crowd.”
The awards ceremony is taking place the same day that the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce is hosting an economic development tour in The Pas and OCN.
“They’re going to be at the reception and many of them, if they choose to stay on, will stay on for the dinner,” Ferguson said.
The awards ceremony includes a pre-dinner reception beginning at 5:30 p.m.
