The tourist season in the Energy City isn’t a make-it or break-it time for Estevan, but there are far too many opportunities in the summer months for us to ignore the benefits that culture, recreation and leisure can provide to the local economy.
These areas of our city take a little more work to find. As the Energy City, locals and outsiders alike see Estevan as a mecca of oil and coal. People come here to work, not to sightsee. And if they are here to learn about local culture or do something fun for an afternoon, it’s off to the mine tours, which are excellent, but there is more to Estevan than energy.
That idea needs to be sold on a much larger scale, and in this case, everyone is a salesperson.
There is a lot we have to offer, and it can be found by those just passing through and looking to stop for an hour, and it can be found by Estevan lifers who make their vacations “staycations” every year.
Estevan, as a City, as a community, as a group of businesses that benefit from tourism dollars, can do a better job of promoting, advertising and selling this city. In fact, we all must do better. No opportunity to sell Estevan should go ignored. Maybe that takes work, and maybe it costs a little money, but the chances to bring more people into the city, particularly, but not exclusively, in a time of low oil prices, are too precious to forgo.
We have to ask why would anybody come to Estevan? What is there to do? And if you don’t have an answer, do some looking yourself. In many ways, the best thing for Estevan is to have a community that is well aware of the activities going on in their own backyard.
The hidden gem is often prized, but nobody benefits from having their gems hidden across a Prairie landscape so the tourists can go searching down dusty dirt roads without a clue. Estevan has too many hidden gems. We need to get these gems into the eyes and minds of the people in this region, in this province and far beyond.
Nobody will simply know what is available in Estevan, if we aren’t going to take the time to inform the wider public. And while it’s important for our own citizens to regularly experience this city to its fullest, our tourist industry can’t survive on the exclusivity of local customers.
We need and want others. We want the world to experience Estevan. And though we have the museums, theatres, galleries, parks and rec centres to attract anyone and everyone, it’s still not enough to provide the facilities, we need to sell them. We need to be encouraging and open.
What is being done to attract the family, driving across the country, off Highway 1 to make a day trip to the southeast? How are we connecting those staying in Estevan to rest for the night to an active nightlife that offers something more than a hangover?
People want to be doing things, and we have things to do. Now we need to promote and get people excited about what Estevan has to offer.
