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ChazYEG

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So, after a few discussions that have been unraveling around the forum, and a lot of good ideas that were posted, I was thinking that we can, maybe, concentrate some of our efforts regarding good strategies and ideas to boost Edmonton's brand and improve tourism (either from far away or from within own borders).

I don't want to restrict the discussion too much, but because I know for a fact that out of our mayoral candidates for 2021, at least one is here as a member, and one other has been following from afar (mostly through campaign members), I figured we could focus on actions that we could take on the short term, that would be cost effective and as realistically applicable as possible. Stuff that could be kickstarted with low investment and that didn't demand a lot of "players" to act together.

Of course, this is a free forum and, knowing the crowd here, we'll end up discussing deeper and long-term ideas and solutions, no matter what the intentions are.
 
I'll start taking it personally that no one ever comments on thrrads I create 🤣🤣🤣

I'll go first, recycling part of a comment I've already posted:


1 - Create a booklet that people could get at the airport, for example, or other major attractions, with information on how to get to our major destinations/attractions, a few nice pictures, descriptions and some paid advertising for local businesses (hotels, restaurants, etc...).

2 - A gift shop and some standardized merchandise featuring unique places from Edmonton, that people could buy at places like Fort Edmonton Park, the Legislature, and the museums. A good branding goes A LONG way towards staying on people's minds. Let's have some fridge magnets, keychains, etc, featuring the Legislature Building, our skyline (the view from the Saskatchewan drive with the Walterdale or, in the future, from somewhere featuring the Tawatina), the Stantec/Marriott/Rogers trio (not unlike YYC does with the hideous Saddledome and the Calgary Tower). Hell, even an oil pump keychain would be awesome, haha

3 - Create a program to take kids from Edmonton Public Schools to our museums and landmarks, with no cost (or something symbolic, like $5 per student), in school trips. Every student would go to a different museum, art gallery, historic landmark, tour, park, etc, once a month, throughout their whole primary and secondary education. Might seem forced, but especially when done in groups, it tends to be a very effective way of getting kids excited about it. Especially younger ones have a tendency of wanting to go back there, with their parents, siblings, etc... It also helps creating a sense of belonging and educates our youth on what the city has to offer for history, arts, culture and science, which are some of Edmonton's greatest assets. It would also create more foot traffic in these places, which tends to be good for a number of reasons, even if they are not paying tickets.
Talking about it is not enough, showing, in a good, fun way, will have them boasting about it when they eventually leave the city to study/work somewhere else. It

4 - Adopt a new, more vibrant color scheme to associate our public image to. As much as I like the usual white and blue scheme that Edmonton uses, it's pale and somewhat boring, especially in our transit livery, and tends to become even worse in the winter months. Again, it might seem silly, but there are quite a few studies out there about the psychological aspect of colors and how they associate with certain feelings and sensations (there's a reason why sports teams usually bear bright, bold colors, whereas school uniforms are generally darker or pale tones). We could very well use the new regional transit authority to drive this change and use the colors of choice as part of a city wide rebranding effort. My vote would go to either adopting the U of A gold-and-green or something out of the box, like a deep purple. Something that when people saw a picture of the city they immediately associate it with Edmonton, even if they're bot familiar with the specific location/angle of the picture.

All of these would relatively simple and low-cost to do (the transit liveries could be changed in stages: first the LRT, then the intermunicipal busses, then the express routes, and finally the regular busses).
 
Ill join in! 🙏🏽
This is a thought I have always had that could benefit the future of this city.

Close Victoria Park Golf Course. Recreate it as Edmontons new entertainment ground in replacement of Nothlands site. It's close proximity to downtown extremely walkable with numerous access points.
The only downside is the closest LRT is Government Centre station but a potential pedway or funicular from Constable Ezio Farone may solve that mobility access issue.
Have it as a festival park / urban park hybrid. Fountains and green space, potential ferris wheel?

Its on lower ground compared to the rest of Oliver, for sound reasons thats a good thing and with Density closeby it would get foot traffic. It would be a landmark and new tourist attraction that would benefit the city for years to come. The "Touch" Closer to the water promenade would also very much compliment this also.

The only downside... Parking.
 
One quick and inexpensive thing would be for the CoE to develop a City Pass type of coupon book. For $100 (or whatever) you could get passes to the City's most popular attractions. Maybe have them in 5 or so groupings: group A-RAM/AGA/??, group B - Ft Ed/Zoo/??, group C - Muttart/U of ABotanic garden/?? , group D - various WEM attractions, etc. You pick one attraction from each of the 5 groupings. We purchased these type of books on family visits to Seattle and NYC (maybe even TO and Ottawa - can't remember). It is a very affordable way for families to see some of the more popular attractions within a city.
 
One quick and inexpensive thing would be for the CoE to develop a City Pass type of coupon book. For $100 (or whatever) you could get passes to the City's most popular attractions. Maybe have them in 5 or so groupings: group A-RAM/AGA/??, group B - Ft Ed/Zoo/??, group C - Muttart/U of ABotanic garden/?? , group D - various WEM attractions, etc. You pick one attraction from each of the 5 groupings. We purchased these type of books on family visits to Seattle and NYC (maybe even TO and Ottawa - can't remember). It is a very affordable way for families to see some of the more popular attractions within a city.
That would be great! I remember buying these when visiting NYC the first time. I like the idea, but I believe that grouping would make it too rigid and stop people from enjoying different things, but one idea that could complement its working:
Have 3 or 4 different prices of cards, like they do in NYC and DC, for example:

$65 gives you access to 3 different attractions over the span of a weekend + a weekend transit pass
$80 gives you access to 4 different attractions over the span of a weekend + a weekend transit pass
$100 gives you access to 5 different attractions over the span of a week + a weekly transit pass (could serve well people coming to festivals like the Fringe, Business/Academic concentions that last 3 to 4 days, or to events like the World Cup, for example.)
$120 gives you access to 7 different attractions over the span of a week + a weekly transit pass + an up to $10 gift from any of the attractions' gift shops.

Like in NYC, you get the booklet that I mentioned before with every purchase (a tour guide, if you'd like), and the card could give you discounts/freebies (with a minimum purchase) for all of the local businesses announcing on it.
This has SO MUCH potential, and would be fairly inexpensive to arrange. And I'm 100% sure that it would be easy to get the businesses and the institutions on board with this, from the EIA to the museums.
 
i'll chime in...

^^^^ i think we should join more organizations concerned primarily with environmental sustainability to promote tourism to edmonton to people who are opposed in principle to travelling anywhere by airplane or automobile. :)


^ ^^

most european cities offer similar passes that you can tailor to the length of time you plan on being there.

 
4 - Adopt a new, more vibrant color scheme to associate our public image to. As much as I like the usual white and blue scheme that Edmonton uses, it's pale and somewhat boring, especially in our transit livery, and tends to become even worse in the winter months. Again, it might seem silly, but there are quite a few studies out there about the psychological aspect of colors and how they associate with certain feelings and sensations (there's a reason why sports teams usually bear bright, bold colors, whereas school uniforms are generally darker or pale tones). We could very well use the new regional transit authority to drive this change and use the colors of choice as part of a city wide rebranding effort. My vote would go to either adopting the U of A gold-and-green or something out of the box, like a deep purple. Something that when people saw a picture of the city they immediately associate it with Edmonton, even if they're bot familiar with the specific location/angle of the picture.

I vote Aurora Green with a light purple on white. Invokes the broad northern skies and wintery colours without being drab.
Any usage should have more coloured space than white space. (eg: Not just a white void with a pair of small coloured stripes)
 
Anyone happen to catch the Global National news cast tonight? The entire news cast, national and international stories included, was done from Calgary with the skyline in the background. Every story about Alberta, Alberta's debt, the carbon strategy, civic elections was done in Calgary about Calgary with Calgary reporters interviewing interviewees from Calgary with shots of downtown and different locations of the city. They had a segment about Nenshi and the Calgary civic election and the outcome for Alberta, Alberta's recovery post-COVID, Nenshi's outlook on the provincial government's response to COVID and on the premier,

I was somewhat rattled at how synonymous Calgary was/is portrayed as Alberta...then at the end of the news cast they said they will be doing the same from Edmonton on Thursday. My mood quickly changed from rattled to I hope Edmonton is showcased nationally as well as Calgary was as this is a great opportunity to literally get in front of the national audience and showcase the city.

In case anyone wants to watch it will be this Thursday.
 
Ill join in! 🙏🏽
This is a thought I have always had that could benefit the future of this city.

Close Victoria Park Golf Course. Recreate it as Edmontons new entertainment ground in replacement of Nothlands site. It's close proximity to downtown extremely walkable with numerous access points.
The only downside is the closest LRT is Government Centre station but a potential pedway or funicular from Constable Ezio Farone may solve that mobility access issue.
Have it as a festival park / urban park hybrid. Fountains and green space, potential ferris wheel?

Its on lower ground compared to the rest of Oliver, for sound reasons thats a good thing and with Density closeby it would get foot traffic. It would be a landmark and new tourist attraction that would benefit the city for years to come. The "Touch" Closer to the water promenade would also very much compliment this also.

The only downside... Parking.
I've always felt like Victoria could be similar to Chicago's lake front! It's gorgeous
 
I sure don't want privately or publically operated golf courses on public (city) owned lands. I would support cancelling all leases and give them 10 years to relocate elsewhere on private property. The river valley should be entirely parks and cultural venues for public use.
 

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