Sylvan Lake

The Central Alberta Tourism Alliance (CATA) is excited to announce the release of the Central Alberta Agritourism Development Strategy. The regional Strategy envisions Central Alberta as the province’s premiere destination for agritourism by 2033.

Building on the region’s strengths in agriculture, the Agritourism Development Strategy captures Central Alberta’s opportunity to invite visitors in to connect with the people and places that bring the region’s agricultural heritage to life.

Agritourism links agricultural production and processing with tourism as a way to share authentic, entertaining, and educational experiences with visitors while generating income and providing diversification opportunities for farms, producers, and related business owners. Agritourism can include everything from on-farm experiences like u-picks, farm stays, and tours to petting zoos and farm markets with connections to farm-to-table, local food, and culinary opportunities.

The study seeks to:

• Create a sustainable and collaborative framework to support agritourism development across the region
• Increase the availability of agritourism product offered by farms and agricultural businesses
• Clearly communicate agritourism as a key motivator for visiting Central Alberta
• Drive regional economic growth and diversification of the visitor economy

The Agritourism Development Strategy focuses on organizational development, marketing and promotional development, product development, and destination development as key areas of action. The Strategy advocates for the collaboration of industry, tourism operators, and communities across the region to develop a sustainable and well-supported framework and environment to advance agritourism as a thriving industry sector and tourism driver.

CATA, working with Expedition Management Consulting and Food Tourism Strategies, collected feedback from a variety of stakeholders including tourism operators, relevant organizations and associations, municipal representatives, the Government of Alberta, and Travel Alberta to gather input regarding the benefits of agritourism, existing agritourism assets, and the needs of industry.

Input revealed that the CATA region possesses significant strengths and assets in agritourism and agriculture through a range of farms, local food product, markets, farm attractions, eateries, and breweries. These assets contribute to Central Alberta’s visitor economy, share and preserve the authentic regional heritage of residents, and help shape local appreciation for food, sustainability, and connections to land.

The Agritourism Development Strategy provides theCATA member municipalities with suggestions on enhancing their individual agritourism opportunity in alignment with local economic development strategies and activities.

CATA is an informal partnership of municipalities and tourism organizations including the Town of Blackfalds, Clearwater County, Town of Innisfail, Lacombe County, Red Deer County, City of Red Deer, Tourism Red Deer, Town of Rocky Mountain House, and the Town of Sylvan Lake.

Inquiries can be directed to Economic Development or Tourism staff within each CATA community, or to the current CATA Chair, Natasha Bhola, Tourism Marketing and Development Coordinator for the Town of Sylvan Lake at 403 887 1192 or nbhola@sylvanlake.ca. The full study can be read online.