A delegation from Manitoba, Canada’s Heart Beats, visited Dublin on 21st January to spread the word that if your clients want to kiss a polar bear or get up-close and personal with beluga whales, then Manitoba in the heart of Canada is the place to send them.
With Aer Lingus, Air Canada and WestJet competing for Dublin – Toronto – Winnipeg passengers this summer (plus Air Transat for Toronto), and with Calm Air providing onward connections to Churchill (and seven destinations further north in neighbouring Nunavut), the heart of Canada will be more easily reached than ever.
Led by Dené Sinclair of Travel Manitoba, the delegation included Tricia Schers, Frontiers North Adventures; Tara Stefansson, Lazy Bear Lodge; Lorne Perrin, Assiniboine Park; and Guillaume Post, First Public Relations.
Frontiers North Adventures offers a wide range of tours, including Arctic Safari (for the midnight sun); Belugas, Bears & Blooms; Bowhead Whales & Walrus; and Polar Bears.
Assiniboine Park includes an 80-acre zoo where opening this summer will be a new 10-acre Journey to Churchill exhibit that will feature caribou, musk ox, snowy owls, seals and polar bears in three distinctive zones, from forests to tundra, and sea ice.
Lazy Bear Lodge also offers a range of wildlife tours, including Arctic Crawler tundra vehicles in search of polar bears, as well as helicopter and dog mushing tours, snorkelling alongside beluga whales, and kayaking on Hudson Bay.
Meanwhile, a recommendation for any clients visiting Winnipeg from September 2014 onwards should be a visit to the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights, which will include a unique, circular ‘basket’ theatre using 360-degree film technology.
