Moose and Mounties Lose Their Touch in Canada

Gone are the days of mountains, Mounties and moose.

That’s the view of national tourism officials, who say Canada can no longer rely on those hardy stereotypes to lure visitors to this vast and varied nation. A new campaign, “Keep Exploring,” is being brainstormed in Toronto for launch next year.

Besides its natural grandeur, which provides backdrops for whale watching, canoeing, hiking and mountain climbing, Canada has varied offerings from different cultures. There is the British style of Vancouver, the French ambience of Montreal and lighthouses that dot the fishing villages of Nova Scotia.

Tourism officials intend to portray Canada as a place where visitors can have offbeat experiences: taking a cruise in northern Quebec to observe polar bears; enjoying a moonlit ride on dogsleds pulled by huskies; building an igloo with Inuit tribes in Nunavut.

At any rate, Canada’s symbols are somewhat imprecise: Moose are rarely seen, and the Mounties don their famous red tunics only for ceremonies and occasional tourism-related events.

A Londoner on his second visit to Canada, 32-year-old Mark Greenfield, said he had seen a Mountie once, in a provincial park in southwestern British Columbia. “He was riding a horse and looked as if he was there as a tourist attraction.”

Travel experts say they seek to inspire curiosity about Canada.

“Our mountains are beautiful, but it’s how you feel when you are looking at a mountain that is what we want to get out now,” said Yvonne van Dinther, vice president of DDB Canada, the marketing firm in charge of rebranding the nation.

The new campaign -- a joint effort of the Canadian Tourism Commission, provincial tourism officials and the travel industry -- will be aimed at higher-income baby boomers, mostly from the United States, Mexico and Europe.

With a relatively modest budget of $70.5 million, the team isn’t yet sure how the campaign will play out. But members do know they want to make Canada’s vastness a more intimate experience for travelers.

“Canada’s image -- about the mountains, Mounties and moose -- is only one piece of Canada,” said Susan Iris, commission vice president.

The commission hopes to increase Canada’s annual tourism revenue by $6-billion -- nearly 23% -- over the next five years.

In 2003, according to the most recent statistics available, foreigners made 17.4 million overnight trips to Canada, down 12.7% from 2002. Travel experts blamed lingering anxiety from the Sept. 11 attacks, Toronto’s SARS outbreak in 2003 and lackluster tourism advertising.

“We want to inspire curiosity; we want to look at nontraditional ways to advertise,” van Dinther said.

Imagine, she said, a weary New Yorker walking to work and looking up at an electronic billboard in Times Square that reads: “Take a moment to sit in a park that you pass every day. Canada. Keep exploring.”

Pete and Sharon Perro are the kind of people the new campaign will target.

They live in Chicago, about 400 miles from Canada’s biggest city, Toronto. Having done Florida, Italy and Britain, the Perros visited their closest neighbor for the first time in June, spending a week touring Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City, capital of the French-speaking province, Quebec.

“Canada has two things it can play off: the country, with the nature and the mountains, but there are also beautiful inner cities,” Pete Perro said.

His wife was surprised to find a big city like Toronto could be so different from home. “It’s beautiful. It’s safe and clean and easy to get around,” she said.

That surprise is what the tourism officials are after, particularly with Americans.

“For the U.S., because we are neighbors, to some extent a lot of people feel Canada is pretty much the same,” van Dinther said. “So what we need to do is explain how different we are and what could make travel to Canada rewarding to them.”

But out in Canada’s West, protest rumbles.

In Fort MacLeod, the Alberta town that calls itself the Mounties’ “spiritual home,” tourism chief Gordon MacIvor said Mounties and moose were Canadian icons known the world over.

“Good luck if [national officials] think they can do better,” he said.