Hello from Donna Lee and an Advocacy Update on Insurance Requirements and Licensing Fees for the 2021-22 Fiscal Year

Hello, it’s Donna Lee, and this is my first week with you as the new Chief Executive Officer at NWT Tourism. I'm currently getting up to speed on this very complex industry, even more complex at a time when Covid has introduced so many challenges for all of you, and for the tourism industry globally. I am excited to be here, and I am looking forward to working with all of you as we eagerly await the opening of the borders, and having leisure travel resume sometime in 2021.

We wanted to start the new year with some good news on the advocacy front. The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment has just announced that tourism insurance requirements and licensing fees for the 2021-22 fiscal year will be waived as COVID-19 impacts on tourism operators continue. This is good news and is something that NWT Tourism has advocated for in the past months, and something that was raised at the NWT Tourism Annual General Meeting in November. We will diligently continue with the work that has been done on the advocacy front, and today it is very encouraging to see the GNWT- Department of ITI making decisions to support the industry during these difficult times.

I would also like to take this opportunity to personally thank Cathie Bolstad for all she has done for NWT Tourism in her tenure with us. She has worked tirelessly for our industry and we wish her well, and congratulate her in her well earned retirement.

Please feel free to reach out to me via email or through the office number listed below. I look forward to getting to know you, and I would love to hear from you.

Donna Lee Demarke
Chief Executive Officer
NWT Tourism
executive@spectacularnwt.com 
867-873-5007 Ext: 1005