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Mission:
To protect and promote the natural, recreational and historic resources of Voyageurs National Park.
Funds Sought for Marketing Effort for the Park
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Funds sought for marketing effort for park
By Tom Klein
Destination Voyageurs, which aims to market Voyageurs National Park and draw more visitors to the region, is in the process of pursuing funds.
The newfound agency has already received a couple of smaller grants and is seeking more, according to Shawn Mason, who serves as the agency’s executive director.
Mason stressed that she and others involved in the effort are all donating their time. The National Park Service has assisted by providing office space at its headquarters in International Falls. Mason said a phone line and Internet access for Destination Voyageurs should be in place by next week.
The marketing program grew out of longtime concerns over the lack of public exposure that Voyageurs has received and the impact that may have on visitor numbers.
Formed in 1972, Voyageurs National Park attracts about 250,000 visitors annually. Visitation peaked in the 1980s when the park drew a high of 285,000 visitors.
In many ways, the mission of Destination Voyageurs mimics that of area Chambers of Commerce and Convention and Visitor Bureaus. Mason acknowledges that the organizations share a common goal of drawing more tourists, but said the limited resources available to those groups don’t allow them to concentrate as much on the park as the new agency can.
“This is historic,” she said of the collaboration between the Park Service and gateway communities to Voyageurs. “This has never, ever happened and we’re slowly, methodically moving foward to building an organization that will be a model for other national parks.”
The effort does have skeptics, including Rep. David Dill, DFL-Crane Lake, who questions the park’s potential as well as its desire to attract greater visitor numbers.
Dill said that there has been a shift statewide as resorts sell their properties or convert them to managed living spaces. That has altered the type of visitors to communities. In addition, he notes that many tourism-related jobs don’t provide living wages.
While efforts to promote the park are worthwhile, Dill said more resources should be devoted to attracting new industry and high-technology jobs to the area, which would have a greater impact economically and bring more population to the region.