The 2018 NWT Tourism Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Conference started Tuesday and runs through Thursday at the Explorer Hotel in Yellowknife.
The annual event rotates between Yellowknife and smaller regional centres every two years, with last year's conference taking place in Inuvik.
This year's conference comes after news of a record-breaking year for tourism in the Northwest Territories with over 110,000 visitors travelling to the territory and spending over $203 million in 2017-2018.
“It's tourism globally,” said Cathie Bolstad, CEO of NWT Tourism, a non-profit association with nearly 160 member businesses in the industry across the territory.
“Where tourism is a global industry, we are competing with destinations who are selling some similar, some different destination and visitor services, so we are making sure the Northwest Territories industry understands that they're part of a global picture."
Part of that is helping businesses understand who they're marketing to and what that means for them, she said.
“We are providing training on working with the Chinese market, so it's really an orientation on who is that market, what are their cultural sensitivities so that we can make them feel at home, what are the payment platforms they use and how do you get onto those,” she said.
The conference is also a chance for people in the tourism industry to come together, participate in workshops and network.
“We do it for a variety of reasons,” said Bolstad. “We're updating them on what we're doing as a destination marketing organization to market the territory, we're working with the government of the Northwest Territories to ensure there are training opportunities.”
The event will also showcase some new tourism trends, including looking at the LGBTQ+ community as an economic opportunity and a focus session about cannabis.
“Because that changes how you think about the tourism industry when something that previously was illegal is now legal,” said Bolstad. “And getting people to think about what does that mean for my business, my clients?”
The conference wraps up with a gala on Thursday night to celebrate award-winners in the tourism industry.
“It's just a wonderful coming together of our industry,” said Bolstad of the gala.