WHITEHORSE, YUKON – The Yukon Convention Bureau (YCB) held its 18th Annual Bravo Awards, sponsored by Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre, Thursday March 7th at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre. “Yukon is experiencing continued increase in the number of meetings and conferences being hosted in the territory, that’s very encouraging.” said Alida Munro, Managing Director at the Bureau. “2024 was yet another banner year for economic impact over $7 million. April – Dec 2024 YT had over 31 meetings/conference with over 2000 visiting delegates from outside. For the 2025/26 fiscal we anticipate the YT MICE sector to hold steady, with similar numbers.” The Yukon Convention Bureau markets Destination Yukon for conferences and events, marketing its 123+ members. “We are seeing more events of smaller sizes. The benefit of hosting a greater number of smaller groups is that we still see the economic benefits to the territory, from groups that are more manageable in size and are more diverse in spreading their business throughout the industry. However, the decrease in both meeting/ venue spaces and hotel rooms from the Coast HCI & Yukon Convention Centre closures, as well as increase in traffic, is pointing to a significant need for new, larger spaces for both inbound & local conferences rentals”
YCB’s Bravo Award is in recognition of successful business events in Yukon, involving Yukoners who have worked to bring meetings and conventions the territory. This years Bravo Award was presented to the 12th International Conference on Permafrost (ICOP) local planning committee, for their significant efforts with their June 16 – 20th, 2024 conference held in Whitehorse. This was the first time the event has been held in Yukon and their event hosted over 470 total delegates, 439 of which travelled internationally to attend. 220 of the ICOP delegates arrived early or extended after to travel throughout the Yukon on scheduled tours to over four Yukon communities. This one event alone generated over $2.2million in economic impact to the Yukon.
YCB’s Golden Bravo Award is in recognition of a YCB member who has gone above and beyond in service excellence in the meeting & conventions sector. This year’s winner Gúnta Business Consulting, nominated by the 12th International Conference on Permafrost (ICOP) for service excellence & efforts with their successful 2024 Yukon event.
Congratulations and thank you to each of this year’s winners!
A special thank you to all YCB members who donated to the door prizes:
Air North – Yukon’s Airline
Northern Vision Development – Yukon Hotels
Cabin Fever Restaurant
Lumel Glass Studio
Eclipse Nordic Hot Springs
Klondike Kettle Corn
Yukonstruct
White Pass Yukon Route Summit Excusion
Decora