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This article was published 3/8/2016 (1510 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They’re using polar bears, beluga whales, great food and fun festivals to lure more American tourists to Manitoba, and industry officials said Tuesday it seems to be working.

Statistics Canada data show 26,306 American tourists took an overnight automobile trip to Manitoba during the first four months of 2016. That’s an increase of 17.7 per cent, or 3,952 visits, from the same period in 2015.

TREVOR HAGAN / FREE PRESS FILES A water taxi on the Red River floats by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

During that same period, another 15,979 of them arrived by some other means and stayed at least one night. That was an increase of 2,080, or 15 per cent, from a year earlier.

Industry officials said the increases were being fuelled in part by things such as the high-valued U.S. dollar, a strengthening U.S. economy, and the fact more Americans now have passports.

They believe another key factor is, for the first time in four years, Destination Canada is aggressively marketing Canada to American travellers as an attractive tourist destination.

They’re also taking a different approach than in the past, said Destination Canada president David Goldstein. The joint marketing campaign the federal agency is conducting with various provincial and city tourism organizations is targeting a younger generation of Americans — people 25 to 44 years of age — who have never been to Canada.

Instead of trying to lure them here with images of Mounties, moose and mountains, they’re trying to reel them in with adventure experiences, urban food and cultural attractions, Goldstein said. In Manitoba’s case, that means trips to Churchill to see the polar bears and beluga whales, the province’s many music and cultural festivals, and some of Winnipeg’s fine restaurants.

"I think Americans know Canada as a great natural escape. But our research tells us they don’t seem to know what great experiences our urban centres have — some of the great cultural products, some of the great culinary products we have to offer," he added. "So that is an important part of the campaign."

Three specific U.S. cities being targeted by the joint Destination Canada/Manitoba Travel marketing campaign are Chicago, Minneapolis and San Francisco, said Goldstein and Linda Whitfield, vice-president of marketing and communications for Travel Manitoba.

He said a digital campaign last year to gauge the interest of California residents in visiting northern Manitoba to see the polar bears and beluga whales drew more than 4,000 visits over a five- to six-week period to either Travel Manitoba or tour-operators’ websites.

"That’s a fairly astonishing number," Goldstein said.

DAVID LIPNOWSKI / FREE PRESS FILES People enjoy Folk Fest at Birds Hill Park.

Although it will be September before summer U.S. visitor data is available, "the anecdotal information we’re getting back from the industry is that the campaign is taking hold and we’re having a very successful summer," he added.

Whitfield said that’s also the feedback Travel Manitoba is receiving from local industry players.

"It (the joint marketing campaign) seems to be working very well for us," she added.

She noted Travel Manitoba is conducting its own marketing campaign in North Dakota, Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin. That, too, seems to be helping draw visitors here.

Although the number of border crossings into Manitoba were down 45.3 per cent in June and down 19.3 per cent for the first six months of this year, Whitfield and a spokesperson for Tourism Winnipeg blamed that to a large extent on the FIFA Cup soccer games that were held here in June of last year.

"We were the only one that had the U.S. women’s team playing here," said Dayna Spiring, CEO of Economic Development Winnipeg, whose operations include Tourism Winnipeg.

DAVID LIPNOWSKI / FREE PRESS FILES Polar Bears at the Assiniboine Park Zoo.

"It threw our numbers so far out of whack because everyone was coming here to watch them play. So you can’t really compare apples to apples by comparing last year to this year."

She noted the number of same-day and overnight visits to Manitoba from the U.S. were up 3.5 per cent cent in May, and up 11 per cent for the first five months of the year.

Spiring believes a combination of things are helping to bring more Americans here, including the value of the U.S. dollar, the marketing campaigns being waged by Destination Canada, Travel Manitoba and Tourism Winnipeg, and the growing number of tourist attractions Winnipeg offers, such as Assiniboine Park and the Zoo, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the Winnipeg Folk Festival and the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival.

"Winnipeg is just a great place to be right now... and this is getting attention around North America," said Spiring.

Laura Curtis, manager of marketing and communications for the Assiniboine Park Conservancy, said although the conservancy doesn’t collect data on the number of U.S. tourists that visit the park and zoo, overall attendance was up by about 100,000 people, or 61 per cent, in the May-to-July period this year.

"We see many tourists at this time of year, both from the United States and around the world. This summer we have our Dinosaurs Alive exhibit here for a limited time only, and it has been extremely popular with our visitors," Curtis said.

She said the Journey to Churchill exhibit and seasonal exhibits such as the Australian Walkabout and the Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden are also popular with tourists.

"This could likely explain the increase in attendance," said Curtis.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca