Anti-oilsands postcards target Alberta tourism
Travel agents receive cards that urge tourists to reconsider visiting Alberta
Last Updated: Thursday, August 19, 2010 | 10:40 AM ET
The Canadian Press
The anti-oilsands groups behind the Rethink Alberta billboards in the U.S. and England have opened a third front in their campaign to get potential tourists to reconsider visiting the province.
Rethink Alberta, a group critical of Alberta's environmental record in the oilsands, placed billboards in U.S. cities in July and added several in Britain this week. (Corporate Ethics International)About 7,500 postcards with that message have been mailed and should be arriving shortly on the desks of travel agents and tourism operators in five states that are some of Alberta's most important travel markets.
They will be hitting mailboxes as 11 digital billboards with a similar message go up in England weeks after the launch of an American billboard campaign.
"The real intent is to sound a warning alarm that the future of tourism in Alberta is really threatened by the continued unbridled development of the tarsands," said Michael Marx of the San Francisco-based group Corporate Ethics, one of eight mostly American groups behind the campaign.
The postcards have been sent to travel agents and tourism operators in California, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Illinois — states that Corporate Ethics says are Alberta's strongest tourism markets in the U.S.
'There isn't any indication at this point that there's any need to change course'—Anne Douglas, Travel Alberta
Anne Douglas of Travel Alberta said neither effort has produced much of an effect.
"Travel Alberta's marketing to tourists is based on research," she said. "There isn't any indication at this point that there's any need to change course."
The first version of Rethink Alberta was criticized for inaccurate information, but Marx said all those mistakes have been addressed.
All of the statements on the campaign's current website are sourced to specific studies, some from government, some from independent scientists and some from research commissioned by environmental groups.
The postcard does, however, superimpose its message about Alberta's natural beauty being under attack over an image shot in one of the province's mountain parks. Those parks are hundreds of kilometres from the nearest oilsands mine.
Travis Davies of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said Rethink's arguments are distorted.
He said they don't mention the billions of dollars being spent to clean up oilsands tailings ponds and reduce water use, or credit the decreases in greenhouse gases for every barrel of oil produced.
"There is room for a bigger dialogue in terms of industry performance," he said from Calgary.
"We take [Rethink] seriously. They're working with significant resources and we need to be doing the same."
Douglas said interested consumers should examine the Alberta government's oilsands position.
"The government of Alberta website does contain links to accurate information," she said. "We encourage people to go there and take a look for themselves."
Marx said he hopes the campaign will encourage Alberta to sit down with Canadian environmentalists and address some of their concerns.
