So what are they going to do with the tourist's once they are here ? Drop them off at the Casino and call that tourism ? Sell them on the total package, give them a tour guide for the weekend to take them to the sites around PG, etc.
I once went via train, to Churchill where we were greeted at the train station by three different tour buses each offering a different style of tour. They look after us the entire day till late at night when returned to the train.
It was great.

Have you tourism people heard of geocaching and how geocachers tend to travel to other areas to do it, stay over night, spend money, etc.

Hmm... go to Prince George for a two night stay to see ?? or go to Las Vegas for 3 to 4 nights for the same price from Calgary. Tough decision, I am sure.

Calgary has direct flights to comox too. I'd rather spend a nice weekend hitting those beautifull beaches and / or checking out crown isle golf course or enjoying the scenery instead of :
1) smelling the aroma of pulp mills.
2) watching or being approached by the multitude of homeless people milling about the downtown core
3) Taking a tour of UNBC which should be free anyways.

PG is a blue collar town. There is or was good hunting and fishing at baldy hughes camp and it was popular until it got sold to a druggie rehab organisation. Lots of people from all over came there to hunt and stay at the facilities. Tourism PG could have put together hunting and fishing packages and it may have been somewhat successful.

Pulp mill tour, museum, Railroad museum. We have a few thngs that may interest some. The bugs are bad, bit of deterrent. I would not however pick the Ramada for accomodations. Stepping outside around midnight would leave an interesting immpression for sure, with the corral across the street

To add to my comment. I do somewhat agree with Imorg. I live here and work here and Prince George has been good to me but It dont think I would spend a pile of dough to come here as a tourist. Its an industrial town. It will always be a pass through town until someone decides to stop build houses and build attractions instead. Even the small town of Sylvan Lake in Alberta has a huge waterslide complex that atracts thousands

From Kamloops/Salmon Arm to Vernon a few weeks ago I saw thousands of Alberta License Plates.

When I returned to Prince George I kept my eye out for Alberta Plates, and in the last few weeks have managed to see (2). This should give you some indication of the direction the Alberta tourist go, and I am sure they would do the same with flying.

Unless you had relatives to visit in Prince George why would you come here?

You can gamble anywhere now. However we cannot compete with the Okanagans weather, and facilities. Some of the outling golf courses here are so inundated with mesquitos and black flys that you take your life in your hands to go golfing.

The lakes that are closer to Prince George have mediocre facilities at best and you are almost gauranteed to get the **itch**

This is stupid...

Why would anyone come from Calgary to spend a weekend in PG (with the exception of visiting family or friends).

We need to stop trying to promote PG as a tourist destination. IT ISN'T ONE!

Dont get me wrong, I have been in PG for 5 years now and I would find it quite hard to leave...I enjoy living here.

Thats the angle we need to take; PG is not a great place to visit...but it is a great place to live.

Tourism NO...Lifestyle YES.

What this press release does not tell you is that there is a major portion of the funds for this marketing program coming from the private sector. If you are assuming that it is IPG money, then are sadly mistaken.

I am one of these business people and am proud to invest in this marketing effort.

I too see the bugs and smell the pulp, but I also see the opportunities that may abound and I want to in invite Calgarians to our community.

In my mind, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Not like some who will sit and complain about everything without ever thinking of stepping up to the plate and trying something aggressive.

Well if it is private then, get IPG not being listed as involved. IPG costs so much to operate for what they bring into PG that we are all getting sensitive about them.

Well the idea is good... even if the press release is a bit misleading... reading between the lines, the effort seems to be to attract Calgary business people to come here to snoop around or to do business with their established customers... and bring your spouse or girlfriend along as well since it is a weekend "getaway".

Hey !!... why not ?? We can always use the traffic and the extra coin.

Maybe one of the big casino guys will come for a visit and realize how lucrative this market could be for another gaming house...

Maybe another one of those rich "land collectors" will swing by and gasp/gurgle over the cheap land here and gobble up a couple of sections for development...

Whomever shows up ... we shouldn't care why... we should just welcome them with open arms, a big grin and a knowing wink of appreciation... just don't mention the price of fuel here.

Blessings all

Lots of calgarians have bought and / or invested on vancouver island. Its nicer there. Even nanaimo is nicer than pg.

Lets be very clear here - its easy to sit back and criticize every new initiative, development or project anonymously.
What you have is a group of businesses here that do not want to see this new air service disappear and are doing something about it.
I beleive this initiative is being steered by IPG, NBC Tourism and the PGAA - it takes a combined effort to make this happen.
Calgary is one of the largest markets that Prince George and our region has lost population to.

I beleive this is being targeted to the Friends and families market.

Once you lose an air service it is very difficult to replace or get the airlines confidence back with any new service your community requests or desires.

Abbotsford recently lost all of their Air Canada flights - ALL of them. This was not due to low loads but rather a change in business.

This group is doing its best to ensure our region can enjoy direct flights to a market other than Vancouver. Moreover this group is demonstrating what some of us here already know - we will do whatever is needed to ensure our communities success.

Wake up and stop being so negative - or move. Frankly some of us really do see the opportunity here.

Maybe you should step away from your keyboard, turn on the lights - have a shower and get a life.

You funny nbc guy. Then get them to promote hunting, fishing, jet boat tours and the like. PG area is great for that. There are lots of outdoor sportmen in Alberta and many more in the states that will use the calgary to PG connector to come to the PG area. There's big money in this because hunters etc tend to spend alot of money on the right guides, etc.

Jeez imorg you sound like a fly on the wall at the ipg led meetings!

We are an under valued area, but not by just some of the nay sayers on this and other sites.

Look at the lovely east kootenays, a short drive from Calgary...check out the house prices and costs to enjoy the area. Now check out our prices and what we have to offer.

You are exactly correct imorg, but first we have to get them here with a heck of a package and with the help of AC and the major hotels we will supply that package.

Again, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Oh, and by the way, this idea was from IPG. They are providing the ball, and business is taking it and running with it, with the help and coordination of IPG.

I agree runner...hopefully the airlines will concurr . They are a seperate business entity so hopefully they won't pull any service before this idea can get off the ground.

And on and on it goes. Prince George has been here for 100 years, Calgary longer than that. The Prince George Airport was originally built in the late 30's and then moved to it present location.

All of a sudden one hundred years later a group of local people are going to do a Promotion to get people from Calgary to come to Prince George. Lots of luck.

In order for a direct flight from Prince George to Calgary to work you would probably need a direct flight from Calgary to Prince George, and I suspect that, that is what it is all about.

Years ago eveyone was hell bent to go to Edmonton to the West Edmonton Mall however we dont hear much about that these days.

We still do not know for sure whether the direct flights to Mexico will be back this year. They could die out from lack of interest.

With a $2 Million a year budget. Initiavtive Prince George has to be seen to be doing something. We have just seen an example of renting an office in Vancouver for 2 years for a cost of $44,000.00 and then closing it down for lack of interest.

If people want to come to Prince George from Calgary you can rest assured that they would find a way, and they would certainly have more clout with the Airlines than we do. Bottom line is, they can go anywhere in the world, so why wuld they come here??????

Drive from Cache Creek BC to Prince George and count the cars. For every car you see going North to Williams Lake, Quesnel, Prince George, you see 50 or more going in the opposite direction. That should give you some hint. More people leave this area to go to other places for vacation than there are people coming into the area.

Just checked the Internet. Calgary has 6 Casinos, with approx 600 slots in each. Or approx 3600 slot machines. So if gamblings your game then Calgary is your town. Of course there are other areas. Edmonton has 5 Casinos, and there are others scattered around Alberta. One just opened the other day in Camrose, so no shortage of gambling facilities.

Once we hit the max on gambling locations thing will quiet down.