How Rocky Mountain Zip Line Grows Adventure Tourism In Alberta

Taylor, like Bossert, knows how arduous the land release process is. For three years, his staff negotiated with the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) to acquire a parcel – within municipal limits – for housing development. The land, also like Bossert’s, was managed by the province’s Forest Land Agreement. “Oh my, it was a painful process,” says Taylor, recounting the time, energy and paperwork. “I can’t imagine the challenges a private operator would have to go through.”

Both Hinton and Grande Alberta Economic Region (GAER), the 12-member municipal partnership in west central Alberta for which Taylor also serves as chair, acknowledge the need for tourism growth. Currently, tenant industries show signs of susceptibility. Diving natural gas prices and encroaching mountain pine beetle have both encouraged GAER to pursue economic diversification. However, the complexities of reclassifying land currently reserved for resource extraction delays development; what’s more, SRD has the final say on the release of Crown lands. “It’s one thing to talk about [tourism growth] in an academic way,” says Taylor. “In the end, the provincial government has to get on board.”

In October, GAER began a tourism asset “audit” and gap analysis to identify local attractions and the products necessary to bring them to market. Helen Kelleher-Empey, GAER’s tourism development specialist, sees “raw tourism” opportunities like trails, parks and lakes as rife in the corridor. But few have waded into the leasing process to catalyze the visitor experience, despite obvious opportunities to capitalize on activities prohibited in the nearby national park. The Town of Edson lists snowmobiling, hunting and boating as popular area activities. Last summer, the Town of Hinton completed Phase 2 of its mountain bike skills park. And, of course, there’s Bossert’s zip line.

“A product like that outside of the park is excellent,” Kelleher-Empey says. “It certainly enhances the Yellowhead route and the experience for visitors driving through.”

Despite the complexity of its undertaking, models exist to guide GAER towards establishing a robust tourism sector. New Zealand, for example, has been a leader in adventure tourism since the bungee jumping phenomenon stretched the definition of the tourist experience in the mid-1980s. On the country’s South Island, where agriculture has historically dominated the economy, the government has introduced land tenure reform, releasing Crown land to freeholders wishing to capitalize on tourism. The move is meant to ensure adequate infrastructure for the annual influx of 2.5 million tourists, but it also acknowledges that traditional economies aren’t as stable as they once were.

“The tenure review… may provide alternative opportunities for outdoor recreation to those that already exist in the national parks,” report Glen Croy and Geoff Kearsley of the University of Otago’s department of tourism. “The predominant land use is for sheep… [but] this is effectively a mono-culture and highly susceptible to market change, technological advance[ment] and environmental hazard.”

Sound familiar? One doesn’t need to see the cut blocks from Bossert’s roof to realize which industries have put food on the table in the Yellowhead area. Currently, the mountain pine beetle threatens to devour Hinton’s pulp and paper industry just as it’s done in British Columbia. And last year the region’s largest exploration company, Talisman Energy, cut spending on capital projects by 88% and reduced drilling activity to nearly zero. In the meantime, New Zealand’s tenure reforms perform a vital role in making tourism its biggest economic driver by 2015. Annually, the New Zealand tourism industry generates nearly $9 billion. Here in Alberta, tourism stands at $5.3 billion.

Jasper-based Raven Adventures Ltd. is about to boost its contribution to that total. On top of river rafting, guided hiking, wildlife safaris and canyon walks within the park, the company will soon add heli-rafting to the adrenalin-pumping activities it offers. With such activities prohibited in the park, guests, guides and rafts will be flown to the Ram River, about 180 kilometres southeast of Bossert’s land – well outside the Yellowhead corridor. But the venture points to the potential of the market.

“We pumped this up a lot over the summer and found the demand is extremely high,” says director Steve Cordeiro. He agrees with Bossert that demand for adventure tourism has been better satisfied by operators in British Columbia than Alberta. In contrast to Bossert’s experience, however, setting up heli-rafting was relatively simple. “Because another company had tried [heli-rafting] before, the permit was easy to pick up.”

While local authorities are supportive of tourism in principle, and the Ministry of Tourism, Parks and Recreation (TPR) has attempted to link potential investors and local operators, in practice a gap remains between entrepreneurial ambition and success.

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