Tourism is up in the tiny town of Tuktoyaktuk after a highway was completed in November 2017 linking it with the town of Inuvik in the Northwest Territories. CBC reports that 30 to 50 vehicles are driving the highway each day to the community of 900 people on the shores of the Arctic Ocean.
“We are getting an unbelievable amount of people,” said Tuktoyaktuk Mayor Merven Gruben to reporter Mackenzie Scott. “I never expected this big of [a] turnout.”
The town projects there could be up to 10,000 people visiting this year.
A map of Canada illustrates the great distances between cities and how remote Tuktoyaktuk is. (Google maps)
How far is that?
The astonishing thing about this story is that it compels one to look at a map and realize just how huge Canada is. While it only takes about 2.5 hours to drive from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk, the closest city to Inuvik is Whitehorse, some 1,226 km away. And Whitehorse is still pretty far away from Edmonton at 1,991 km.
I live in Montreal, which is almost 3,580 km from Edmonton. So if you do the math, you’ll see that I am not in a hurry to drive to Tuktoyaktuk.
Tourists look at fish being smoked. Sales of fish and crafts are up in Tuktoyaktuk. Mackenzie Scott/CBC)
Good for people and business, says mayor
That said, Canadians and people from all over the world are travelling one way or another to Inuvik and driving to Tuktoyaktuk. While the mayor says “the infrastructure is not ready…we are more than willing to take the people in regardless.” Gruben says tourism is good for business and good for the community, particularly for young people.
The $300-million highway between Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik was completed in November 2017. (Submitted by James MacKenzie/Department of Transportation)
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