Explore the province over Victoria Day weekend, Tourism Saskatchewan says

Many see the Victoria Day long weekend as the unofficial sign of summer, which means many people could be looking for a fun activity this weekend.

Jonathan Potts, CEO of Tourism Saskatchewan, joined The Evan Bray Show on Friday to discuss all the fun things the province has to offer.

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Golfing and fishing were among the activities that Potts listed, as well as hiking and Potts recommended some trail locations.

“If you’re in the Regina, Moose Jaw area you can go to Buffalo Pound Lake, southwest of Cypress Hills,” he said.

“Meadow Lake Provincial Park has a 100-mile trail.”

Potts said there are other activities that Tourism Saskatchewan has been working hard on promoting as well.

“We’ve really focused on some niche markets in the last few years,” he said. “Things like birding, astro tourism… nature photography, a lot of people come here and love to take photos, not just of animals, wildlife or ghost towns.”

Astro tourism is night-sky watching and related photography, and Potts said it’s really popular.

“If you go to a dark sky preserve like Grasslands National Park, you will see licence plates from across the country and into the United States,” he said.

Potts said that they have also begun focusing on Indigenous activities and tourist attractions.

“Places like the kâniyâsihk Culture Camps on the Ministikwan First Nation,” he said.

“There’s one called Aski Holistic Adventures which is up in the Cumberland Delta and you can go out with a woman who’s grown up in that delta, and she’ll have you live off the land with her for a week or longer.”

Potts said they are also expecting to have a huge season this summer with Canadians touring Saskatchewan.

“We’re expecting a really big year this year, with Canadians staying home,” he said.

“We expect a big boost, not only from Saskatchewan residents but from neighbouring markets like Alberta and Manitoba, (and) people from across the country — and our U.S. market is looking to be relatively stable.

“Our biggest market in the U.S. is fishing and hunting,” Potts said.

“In the summer, it’s going to be people coming to fish up north … often those packages are priced in American dollars, so we’ll actually see a very profitable summer.”

It wouldn’t be a Saskatchewan summer without grass and wildfires burning throughout the province, and Potts is urging people to check any potential ongoing issues near their preferred location.

“With the fires up north in the Narrow Hills Provincial Park region, we encourage people to come to our website,” he said. “We have a ‘Know Before You Go’ page just to check in on things like fires, flooding, anything that might deter people from travelling to a particular location.”

— with files from CKOM News

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