Spirits were flowing in Turner Valley earlier this week as Eau Claire Distillery staff played host to 65 tour operators and travel agents from around the world.
Three helicopters and two tour buses brought international tourism experts to the town to sample locally grown and sourced spirits and food during the national tourism conference Rendez-vous Canada, held at Calgary’s BMO Centre May 9 to 12.
“More and more people are looking for alternatives outside of the city for day trips and alternatives to the parks,” said David Farran, owner of Eau Claire Distillery. “They are looking for something different to do and we are starting to benefit from that. We are noticing that people are making an effort to come to the Foothills.”
Destination Canada, the country’s national tourism marketing organization, works with the Tourism Industry Association of Canada and marketing organizations across the country to host the conference in a different city every year, said Danielle Vlemmiks, director of corporate relations and stakeholder outreach for Destination Canada.
Rendez-vous Canada saw about 1,800 visitors this week and matched tourism buyers and sellers in a series of 12-minute-long appointments at the various booths in the Calgary conference.
“Tourism operators from across Canada have booths and tourism buyers from around the world meet with the tourism providers,” said Vlemmiks. “It’s speed dating for the tourism industry.”
Tours are scheduled during the conference to take representatives from tourism companies and agencies to various destinations throughout the region.
The Eau Claire Distillery was among those on that list.
“One of the things Tourism Calgary wants to highlight is food and beverage attractions,” said Vlemmiks. “Different markets around the world like different things. One was a culinary tour and microbreweries and distilleries in Alberta. Travel trade media go around and learn more about what’s available through those experiences so they write about them and put them in itineraries that resonate with each of the markets.”
Staff at Eau Claire Distillery welcomed a busload of 18 tour operators from China, 29 from Germany and another 18 from various countries who landed in helicopters in a field behind the distillery.
Paul Howden, Eau Claire general manager, lead the visitors through the distillery and showed them a video about the history of Eau Claire and Turner Valley while serving samples of a lemonade and cherry gin, the new Spring Equinox (a prickly pear cactus vodka) and locally-sourced trout and spent grain crackers.
“They were taken away by the scenery in Turner Valley and certainly by the visit to the distillery,” said Howden. “We really got positive feedback on the quality of the drinks and high-end products. They showed their passion for our products as our gift shop was very busy. We went through a lot of bubble wrap and sold lots of bottles of our gin and vodka.”
Farran said this type of exposure for both his business and Turner Valley is fantastic.
“We’re excited to be part of it,” he said. “We obviously are very keen to build our tourist business and have more visitors, and this is part of that process of introducing them to something new in the foothills of Alberta. We are looking forward to many international visitors in the future.”
The Eau Claire Distillery is already on the radar of many tourism agencies around the world.
“We are now ranked as one of the top destinations within an hour or two of Calgary by agencies like Trip Advisor,” Farran said. “As a new attraction, a lot of tour operators are very interested in us.”
The number of visitors sampling Eau Claire’s hand-crafted products in the tasting room and touring the distillery reaches hundreds on summer days, and Farran expects that will continue to grow.
“Getting booked in itineraries of international tour operators takes three years,” he said. “We expect next year we will see actual tour buses from places like China.”
Turner Valley Mayor Kelly Tuck said the town’s inclusion in Rendez-vous Canada could mean big things for the community, which relies on tourism during the summer months.
“It’s very exciting for Turner Valley and for our business industry,” she said. “It will bring, hopefully, new prospects to the community. We always want to promote our area and our businesses.”
