Tourism was a big talking point for City of Lloydminster council as it looks at economic plans moving forward.
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Council heard a report on the 2026-31 economic development strategic plan at the June 15 governance and priorities committee meeting.
The plan was developed to support and implement council’s overarching priorities by translating them into targeted, actionable economic initiatives.
The strategic plan highlights four pillars: the innovative ecosystem, connectivity hub, talent magnet and visitor economy.
Within pillar one, the innovative ecosystem, the focus is supporting existing businesses and those willing to invest locally while evolving core sectors. The connectivity hub covers a variety of items, focusing on leveraging geography and infrastructure to lead the region.
Within the second pillar, the plan highlights the airport, something Mayor Gerald Aalbers said was key to the city’s economic growth.
“The item, Coun. (Michele) Charles Gustafson asked me if it would be the airport and we get air service back in this city,” he said. “That’s the No. 1 priority for our potential economic growth.”
Lloydminster is also focusing on making the city a “choose-to-stay” community for talented individuals. Finally, the visitor economy dominated discussion around the council table as members discussed the city as a destination that attracts visitors and investment.
“We did look at it and say ‘Is this enough. Is pillar four, which we call visitor economy, does that cover the tourism economy enough and is that event central and that downtown experiential piece enough,’” Katlin Ducherer, the city’s economic development officer said.
Coun. Michael Diachuk explained that the city needs support from other groups in the community when it comes to tourism.
“We’re a big small city, yet we’re trying to do some of those other things. I think as we heard here, we’re transitioning in terms of that next phase, so all these pieces are important but particularly around tourism, I think other agencies really need to support the city in more ways than I see in the report,” he said.
Ducherer said work is underway to collaborate with local community groups.
“When we talk about formalizing a hotel association, we talk about that from an event facility perspective as well, where we have these major players that want to do well and want to do better in the community,” she said.
Coun. Jim Taylor pointed out that Lloydminster has changed over the years.
“I think we’re in a very interesting time to look at economic development and to tie in tourism,” he said. “What is Lloydminster, where are we, what is economic development, what is the drivers and those questions, I think, are very high right now. I think over the next few months, couple of years as things start to change, those things are going to start to come out and see what is changing.”
Charles Gustafson noted the city is at the beginning of creating its own visitor economy.
“If we want to be a destination (location), we have to build the infrastructure and the structures that allows that to happen, and a place where decisions can be made about tourism, at a table where all the people are sitting,” she said.
“I just see it as, we are at the very beginning of creating our own visitor economy. We’ve been passive up until now and now it’s time to be active and put some investment forward to it.”
Council accepted the economic development strategic plan as information and the item will be brought back to a future council meeting for a decision.
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