The province’s tourism industry is fighting back against a controversial anti-Alberta campaign.
In mid-July Rethink Alberta, an American group of environmentalists, released a damning YouTube video targeting Alberta’s oilsands.
Pollsters at Angus Reid asked 4,000 people from Britain, the United States and Canada if they would consider visiting Alberta, with 49 per cent of Americans and 54 per cent of Britons saying yes.
After respondents viewed the video, those numbers dropped down to about 25 per cent, according to Angus Reid.
“They’re just trying to use the tourism industry to get attention for their cause,” said Minister of Tourism Cindy Ady. “The first thing they threw under the bus was truth.”
She said the province is launching a counter attack. The provincial government has dedicated around $268,000 to their promotional campaign.
“We’re not going to sit back on this, we’ll be out there,” she said.
Don Boynton, a spokesperson for Travel Alberta, said the campaign has not been working.
“It is not having the impact that I would think the campaign organizers had hoped for,” he said.
