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Tourism Canmore Kananaskis releases action plan

KANANASKIS COUNTRY – A new plan is aiming to help promote respectful tourism practices as the provincial government has prioritized the industry’s growth in the coming years.

Tourism Canmore Kananaskis (TCK) released its 2025-27 regenerative tourism action plan, which outlines several goals and action items to take place in the coming years.

Rachel Ludwig, TCK’s CEO, said the plan is designed to help become leaders in sustainable tourism by 2029 and to have a “big impact in a short period of time.”

“It’s really designed to get us on our way in becoming leaders in achieving sustainable tourism,” she said.

“We really needed a plan that was aggressive in order to get us where we need to be because we lost years during the pandemic where not much was able to happen.”

The plan – which was released at TCK’s annual general meeting April 3 – has four performance areas in environmental, social, supplier and destination management, with specific measurements for each one.

The five main strategies focus on reducing environmental footprint, increasing the role of Indigenous peoples, enhancing year-round profitability, protecting and restoring nature and using storytelling to inform visitors of the importance of the area.

For environmental goals, the aim is to reduce emissions of visitor economy by 30 per cent by 2030 and establish net-zero tourism by 2050.

Ludwig said the organization will sign the United Nations’ Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism as well as find metrics for what the visitor economy contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, then set targets to reduce them.

The Indigenous goal will look to double Indigenous-owned experiences by 2027 and increasing profitability will have TCK continue to advocate for industry, expand shoulder season visitation and secure additional funding. The organization provides free associate membership to Indigenous members and covers Indigenous Tourism Alberta’s membership.

“It’s little ways to show we’re accountable, but we also want to grow the number of Indigenous tourism businesses in Canmore and Kananaskis,” she said.

“We’re really hoping we can grow Indigenous offerings in the area.”

Under protecting and restoring nature, it will work with visitors to align with the human-wildlife coexistence implementation and action plan and the ongoing Canmore Area Trails Strategy.

“For many visitors to Canmore and Kananaskis, nature is the main event,” the plan states. “Preserving the vitality of the natural world in our region is essential for the growth of our visitor economy and the health of our own community.”

TCK previously completed a 10-year Community Tourism Strategy Plan in 2019, which prioritizes its work on sustainable tourism development and engaging tourists to have regenerative values and practices.

Destination Canada released its report A Regenerative Approach to Tourism in Canada in 2023. Its plan promotes protecting ecosystems, creating relationships, focusing on contributions to the greater community and being stewards of places.

TCK’s plan was informed by the Town of Canmore’s 2021 regenerative tourism framework that came from work by its tourism taskforce that identified key aspects to have tourism thrive and not impact the community or environment.

The tourism agency hired Global Destination Sustainability Movement to look at the area communities using the Global Destination Sustainability Index, which is tied into the United Nations goals for 2030.

A regenerative tourism advisory taskforce of 19 people worked on developing the plan.

“A regenerative tourism industry focuses on enabling renewal in the ecosystems and communities that it touches,” stated the action plan. “In turn, this renewal process helps visitor economies maintain their growth over a long period of time because the resources and community health that the economy depends on are regenerated instead of being depleted.”

To achieve its goals, the plan indicates that getting long-term funding by 2026 is essential to help create projects started by the soon-to-be established committee and taskforce to implement goals and start developing a community education and engagement plan. Additional goals would be further collaboration and starting a regenerative tourism internship program.

“Our first priority is to secure funding for the work and resources it will take to bring this strategy to life,” stated the plan under the specific goal. “TCK will work with the Town of Canmore to secure additional funding from the provincial government to kick off regenerative tourism action plan initiatives.”

Ludwig said funding will be “incredibly important” and TCK’s board approved using reserves to help achieve goals outlined in the plan. She said the organization is doing financially well and tourism has continued to rebound after the COVID-19 pandemic, with last year before the first visitor spending in the area was above $1 billion.

“We have healthy reserves that we’ve built up since the pandemic and we’ll use some of that funding to execute on that work,” she said. “Once that work is done and reserves have dwindled, we need to find other sources to keep going.”

Provincial government focused on tourism growth

In 2024, the provincial government announced its ambitious goal of growing tourism in the province to hit $25 billion annually by 2035.

The plan focuses on growing rural tourism, increasing transportation and access to areas, diversifying tourism products to be year-round, helping with labour shortages and increasing funding for Indigenous tourism operators.

If the provincial government’s lofty goals are achieved, it would add to the annual tourism levy it collects each year from hotels and lodgings. Alberta’s 2025 budget forecasts $122 million being collected from the levy in 2025-26. It collected $116 million in 2023-24 and forecasts $126 million in 2026-27 and $129 million in 2027-28.

The provincial government also passed its All-Season Resorts Act as part of its strategy to grow tourism. The plan will allow privately-owned resorts through long-term leases on Crown land and it streamlines existing approvals and processes such as the Public Lands Act, the Water Act, the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act and associated regulations.

The province has stated existing environmental standards and engagement requirements will continue.

While the provincial government has focused on growing tourism throughout Alberta, the Canadian Rocky Mountains will continue to be its moneymaker.

In 2019, 47 per cent of international visitor revenue was generated in the Rockies, according to Travel Alberta.

A 2022 Verum Consulting report for Banff, Canmore and Jasper found $2.3 billion in visitor expenditures were generated by the three mountain communities in 2019. It contributed $2 billion to Alberta’s GDP, 23,600 jobs and $308 million in taxes to the economy.

According to information from Tourism Industry Association Alberta (TIAA), in 2023 international revenue from tourism was the fifth biggest export in the province and responsible for $2.6 billion. Data from TIAA showed visitor spending in Alberta in 2023 at $12.7 billion after it was $10.7 billion in 2022.

The agency’s data indicated Albertans spend $214.50 in the province, while Canadians who come here spend $789.50 and Americans $1,230.80 per visit. International, however, spend $1,349.90 per person per visit.

A key component is focusing on bringing international visitors who are likely to spend more money rather than focusing on volume of tourists. TCK has campaigns in American states such as New York, California and Texas, with direct flights into Calgary International Airport streamlining visitation from those areas.

Ludwig said the main visitor spending in the area is for visitor accommodation followed by recreation activities and food and beverage.

“Our goal is to be growing very purposefully. We want to grow with purpose and we already see with our current numbers our highest growth months since the pandemic are October and November,” she said. “We’re really working on stretching out the shoulder seasons and growing winter more. … It’s not necessarily you need more visitors, but you need higher spend to achieve those goals.”

Colombian Tourism Shaken After Grisly Discovery

Last weekend, Santa Marta’s beaches were the site of a horrifying event. The police found the dismembered body of Alessandro Coatti, a British biologist. This violent murder increased worries about personal safety in Colombia. Foreign travelers across the globe now have concerns.

The Sunday Horror in Santa Marta

Initial accounts reveal that children located Alessandro Coatti’s body in a suitcase close to the Sierra Nevada football stadium. The stadium is situated outside Santa Marta, a pretty Caribbean town. At first, only the head, hands, and feet of the 42-year-old man surfaced. Law enforcement continues to look for additional parts—a basic hotel wristband assisted in the identification.

Carlos Pinedo Cuello, Santa Marta’s mayor, swiftly condemned the crime and presented a £10,000 reward. This money should help acquire data, and support captures. Since particulars are few, the awful nature of the event startled inhabitants and those elsewhere. Coatti, an Italian-born molecular biologist who worked at the Royal Society of Biology in London, had reportedly been on holiday in the area. Investigators are still piecing together his final hours.

Colombia has long enticed global explorers with its vibrant culture, coastal vistas, and biodiverse landscapes. This recent tragedy highlights the conflict between increased national appeal as a tourist spot and continued safety worries. In recent years, both the UK and US governments have issued strict travel warnings. They advised their populations to act with care in specific areas, especially those impacted by gang operations or poor law enforcement.

A Compiled List of Unsettling Fatalities

Coatti’s death drew notice, but it is just one of some bothersome events that occurred to travelers from Britain and the United States. These are a few notable cases compiled by The Daily Mail.

Joe Tilley (2018)

A British reality TV personality explored Colombian waterfalls. Near the Fin del Mundo (End of the World) site, he fell plus died. Witnesses stated he showed signs of confusion before he went toward the cliff, and this confusion possibly came from drug use. Authorities pointed out he took part in tribal rituals that used poisonous toads. As a result, people guessed that the hallucinogenic events contributed to a drug-induced psychosis.

Henry Miller (2014)

A 19-year-old backpacker traveled from Bristol. He died after he ingested a hallucinogenic brew. The brew was yagé, also named ayahuasca, and he took it during a tribal ritual. Soon after, he became very ill. Because the shaman’s son panicked, he reportedly abandoned Miller’s body near the road. The son recognized the teenager passed away as he traveled to a medical facility. An inquest confirmed the cause of death. The documents named intoxication from yagé and scopolamine.

Paul Nguyen (2022)

At age 27, he traveled from Orange County, California, to Medellín for his initial visit. He arranged a rendezvous with a Tinder contact. Security camera footage showed him leaving a pub with a woman at 2 a.m. Shortly after, he was discovered deceased on a road. Law enforcement suspected he was drugged and robbed.

This spotlights the perils of dating application encounters if criminals target clueless travelers.

Kishori Salter (2016)

Salter, 21, had been reveling in Colombia’s adventure offerings—bungee jumping and paragliding—before a sudden and severe allergic reaction claimed her life. Her family described her as a thrill-seeker who had toured multiple countries, noting that she was “having the time of her life” until tragedy struck.

Tou Ger Xiong (2023)

A 50-year-old American comedian and community activist, Xiong, was abducted by a ransom-seeking gang while visiting Medellín. He was found stabbed multiple times at the base of an apartment building, having also suffered injuries from a 60-foot fall. Police later arrested four individuals connected to the crime, all of whom received lengthy prison sentences.

Austen Arango Smith (2024)

A fisherman of 27 years from Scotland relocated to Colombia – his goal was to live near his father. Someone found him deceased in a Villamaria apartment. Because limited facts surfaced concerning how he died, people knew he had earlier gone through a major motorcycle crash, which put him into a coma. Family members suffered from grief – they presented him as a caring person who valued the ocean lifestyle.

Phillip Mullins (2023)

Mullins, from Tennessee, traveled to Medellín with friends during the holiday season. One morning, he failed to answer calls or join planned outings. Concerned, hotel staff and his companions found him unresponsive in his suite. Investigators suspected an overdose—potentially the result of being surreptitiously drugged—as they discovered hallucinogenic substances scattered around his room.

Border Patrol Agents, Cisneros and Ahmed (2024)

In a baffling event, Jaime Eduardo Cisneros plus Alexander Ahmed, both US Border Patrol agents, went to Medellín for a vacation in late May 2024. Cisneros was discovered lifeless in a hotel room. His death appeared questionable because personal items and valuables disappeared. Following his return home, Ahmed committed suicide. This occurred before the FBI had a chance to speak with him about his co-worker’s last evening. Despite investigations, the precise order of occurrences is uncertain. It is also not known if local criminals singled them out.

Johny Jerome (2023)

Age 45, came to Medellín from New York for his birthday celebration. Following an evening of partying alongside his cousin and two local women, his cousin woke and saw Jerome’s body inside the hotel suite’s jacuzzi. Even though obvious violence was not there, this incident resembled past cases. These tourists met their end under unclear or suspect conditions inside Colombian hotels.

From homicide to accidental overdoses, these fatalities highlight how even the most seasoned or well-intentioned travelers may find themselves vulnerable. Although tens of thousands of visitors enjoy Colombia’s charms every year, these incidents point to a persistent undercurrent of danger—be it from drugs, theft, or insufficient emergency resources in remote areas.

Balancing Risk and Reward

Colombia improved tourism and security, even with unsettling reports, mainly in large cities such as Bogotá, Cartagena, and Medellín. Over the last ten years, government projects have aided in restoring a stable feeling in territories once controlled by lawbreakers. Many travelers say they had good, deep experiences as they explored Colombia’s bright beaches, full rainforests, and historic buildings.

But Alessandro Coatti’s tragic death, located violently in Santa Marta, offers a grim reminder that caution counts. Traveling for adventure or seeing city sights does not guarantee safety. Official advice for travel advises extra awareness, primarily if a person decides to visit rural or unfamiliar areas. Relevant safety measures, such as knowing recent local news, avoiding late meetings with strangers, and handling local products with care remain essential.

The rising popularity of smartphone dating apps also heightens risk, as criminals sometimes pose online to lure tourists into secluded areas for robbery or worse. Cases like Paul Nguyen’s highlight how quickly an evening out can turn lethal if unsuspecting travelers let their guard down.

Many visitors go to Colombia each year without problems. They come because of its music, food, diverse nature, and friendly people. Colombia’s transformation from a place of fighting to a place everyone wants to see shows its strength and ability to change. Bad things can happen in any popular place, and these stories show the need for careful planning, understanding of the local area, and obedience to official warnings.

Also Read: Hispanic Icon Selena Quintanilla: Murderer Denied Parole In Texas

The police investigation of Coatti’s death continues, so both tourists and locals desire a swift resolution. At present, the grim reality is that particular captivating locations in South America feature elements of peril. If travelers heed safety recommendations and respect the local culture, they can see the wonderful aspects of Colombia. People need to be aware of the precarious boundary between thrilling exploration and lethal hazards.

Tourist helicopter crashes in Hudson River in New York City, all 6 on board killed

A tourist helicopter carrying family members from Spain plunged into the Hudson River in New York City, killing six, including three children.The New York Helicopters chartered chopper, which was carrying a pilot, two adults and three children, fell into the Hudson River by Lower Manhattan in New York City on Thursday afternoon, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop confirmed to ABC News.The crash occurred at 3:17 p.m. off the coast of River Drive in Hoboken, New Jersey, just over 15 minutes after it departed from the Wall St. Heliport. The helicopter reached the George Washington Bridge before turning south and crashing, according to authorities.”Our hearts go out to the family and those on board,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said during the briefing.In this screen grab from a video, a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River on April 10, 2025, in New York.AvirbhawRakesh via X First responders walk along Pier 40, on April 10, 2025, in New York, across from where a helicopter went down in the Hudson River in Jersey City, N.J.Jennifer Peltz/APVideo from the crash showed the chopper plunging into the water without a tail rotor or a main rotor blade. Officials said it hit the water inverted.Jersey City Medical Center, where the passengers were transported after the crash, tried as hard as they could, Mayor Fulop told ABC News.The Spanish Consulate of New York City is in touch with authorities to gather and confirm information and identification of the people involved in the helicopter crash, according to the communications team at the Spanish Foreign Ministry. Authorities in Spain are aware of the crash as well, according to the department.Dani Horbiak told ABC News she watched the helicopter “fall out of the sky” from her apartment window.”I heard five or six loud noises that sounded almost like gunshots in the sky and saw pieces fall off, then watched it fall into the river,” she said.Rescue workers and emergency personnel work at the scene of a helicopter crash on the Hudson River near lower Manhattan in New York, April 10, 2025.Eduardo Munoz/ReutersThis October, 2022, file photo shows the helicopter that crashed into the Hudson River on April 10, 2025, in New York.Maximilian Ruehmer-Junghardt”I was walking by and the helicopter went down at a 45-degree angle,” Eric Campoverde told ABC News. “Big splash — it was very scary.””It sounded like a sonic boom,” a witness told New York ABC station WABC. He said he saw the “helicopter splitting in two with the rotor flying off.”In this screen grab from a video, first responders rush to the scene of a helicopter crash in the Hudson River on April 10, 2025, in New York.WABCAnother witness told WABC, “One propeller broke into pieces.”The chopper — identified by the Federal Aviation Administration as a Bell 206 helicopter — was on its sixth flight of the day. It was found upside-down in the 50-degree water when rescuers arrived at the scene, which was closer to the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, according to sources.The Jersey City Police Department is taking the lead on the investigation since the helicopter crashed on the Jersey City side of the river, Fulop told WABC on Thursday.Fulop said the city has had concerns about the air traffic over the Hudson before and is hoping this brings more attention to their safety concerns.ABC News’ Leah Sarnoff and Erin Murtha contributed to this report.