Prince George, B.C.- Tomorrow is National Ski Day in Canada,   and  it  just  happens to be  on the weekend Tabor Mountain is hosting a  NorAM Cup Ski Cross event.

This is not the first  time  Tabor has  hosted this  high performance  event,  as it was  one of the  competitions during the  2015 Canada Winter Games,   Since then  Tabor Mountain has  hosted nearly a dozen NorAm events, and that’s  a boost to tourism in the region.

“It really puts us on the map in terms of being  a sport destination in the winter” says Erica Hummel,  CEO of Tourism Prince George.  She says  each athlete will,  on average,  spend about $250 dollars during their visit  to Prince George.  “That’s  $25 thousand dollar injection into  the economy.  It’s not huge amounts of money, but more importantly,  it’s the fact we are hosting a North American wide event and building that reputation for Tabor  Mountain.”  She says the next step for Tabor is to advance into a World  cup event.

“It’s very important for our city and it’s exactly the piece  that we  want coming from the (2015) Games and   continuing  to build on the sport tourism that’s happening in the city” says Hummel.

There is also  value in  an event  introducing  new people to the region says Hummel “Often times  when  people are introduced to a place from sport,  they   wouldn’t necessarily have come to that destination before,  but they  want to return,  they think ‘oh what a fantastic city’ and sometimes they  may  even decide to move here because they see the great quality of life we have.    It’s  great introduction and a great way for our locals to show them what northern  hospitality  is all about.”

The NorAm event  started yesterday, and  continues  through tomorrow.    To celebrate National Ski Day,  lift tickets will be offered at half price tomorrow,  but  you have to purchase  those  tickets through  Alpine Canada.org

Spectators who want to catch the action of the event  can walk up the mountain  at  no  charge .  Qualifying events start at 11 today and  tomorrow morning and  races start at 1 p.m. each day.