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International travel agency executives converge on city

Travel agency owners from as far as Australia are in Yellowknife this week to experience the city's tourism benefits.

Some 160 members from the Ensemble Travel Group are taking part in the annual Ensemble executive retreat.

Ensemble's Australian senior vice president and general manager Trish Shepherd said when she was presented with the opportunity to come to Yellowknife, she could not pass it up.

Trish Shepherd, left, Lindsay Pearlman and Susan Mercredi pose for a photo inside the Chateau Nova Hotel on Tuesday. The three are participating in the Ensemble Travel Group, executive retreat. Michael Hugall/NNSL photo

“Yellowknife has always been on my bucket list. I remember feeling very excited when I heard the conference was going to be here,” said Shepherd. “The beautiful photo of the aurora village on Top Of The World Travel's website really captivated me.”
Shepherd said she was most excited to see the aurora but after spending time in Yellowknife she's had one favourite experience after another.
“I've really enjoyed the authentic experience,” said Shepherd. We got off the plane and went straight to Bullocks (Bistro) for the most gorgeous fish meal I've ever eaten.”

Shepherd added she sees herself marketing Yellowknife to the Australian people because it's so efficient to get here.
“I think the Australians who want to see Canada should just do one more flight. It's nice and easy,” she said. “If we go to Europe we're not guaranteed the best place to see the lights so coming to Yellowknife you are guaranteed a great spot and a great experience.”

Members from Ensemble Travel Group heard about Northern tourism in 2015 during a conference in Orlando, Fla.

A Yellowknife member of Ensemble pitched the idea to those in attendance.

NWT Tourism CEO Cathie Bolstad said the conference gave the NWT an opportunity to advertise the city to about 1,100 travel agency executives.

“At this event we began planting seeds for a conversation about how wonderful it would be to host one of the Ensemble Travel Group meetings in Canada's NWT,” said Bolstad. “Increased knowledge and passion for the tourism product here means an increased chance of our destination being one of the products these travel agencies sell.”

Three-years later some 160 Ensemble representatives from the U.S, Australia and Canada are in the city for northern tourism, added Bolstad.

They arrived in Yellowknife on March 22, in time to experience Long John Jamboree, said Bolstad. The representatives have also been dog-sledding, walking around the ice-caves, watching the aurora borealis and tasting traditional Indigenous cuisine while walking around Ndilo.

Bolstad said this conference could have longer-term spin offs for the city.

“Once the organizers announced the location of the executive retreat was going to be in Yellowknife the demand to participate was so great they doubled its size and still oversold,” said Bolstad. “Often, visitors with a great business experience will come back again to explore other regions, bringing families and friends with them,”

Bolstad added she hopes the conference will continue to attract an increased number of tourists to Yellowknife.

According to NWT statistics from 2016-2017 some 108,480 visitors travelled to the NWT. During their stay the visitors spent $201.4 million, collectively.

Bolstad said these spending numbers put the NWT tourism's five-year strategy ahead of schedule.