'This is the biggest industry in the world.'

Nunavut Tourism says the territory could catch many more tourist dollars, if only it did a better job advertising itself to the world.

"This is the biggest industry in the world," said Jillian Dickens, a marketing officer with Nunavut Tourism. "To get a piece of it, we need to invest, seriously."

The tourism agency, which is largely funded by the Government of Nunavut, receives slightly more than $2 million each year. Of that, $750,000 is spent on marketing.

Nunavut Tourism would like to see its budget increase by $3 million to help compete against rival jurisdictions. Even if the agency received the funding boost, it would still only have half the budget of its counterpart in the Northwest Territories.

The pitch will likely be a hard sell to the Government of Nunavut, which often hears complaints that there's not enough money for basic services in the territory, such as education and health care.

But Dickens says a big marketing campaign would pay for itself with the money spent in the territory by growing numbers of visitors.

She points to Colorado, which recently boosted the amount spent on tourism marketing, and saw a big spike of sales at local businesses.

But Colorado is not Nunavut. And many of the territory's small business operators may not be ready for a big influx of tourists, and the quality of service these visitors often expect.

Boat guides may be away from the phone for weeks at a time, and have no answering machine. Or they may not show up at the scheduled time.

Hotels in smaller communities may have run-down rooms, leaky water works and infrequent kitchen service.

Restaurants, even in Iqaluit, may offer sluggish service, leaving customers waiting for 15 minutes or longer to be served.

There are quality businesses in the territory, to be sure, but tourists may have trouble discerning which ones to trust.

Nunavut Tourism tries to steer potential customers to reliable businesses in the territory – but not all businesses listed on their web site meet basic standards that tourists may expect, Dickens admits.

There's also an absence of basic infrastructure, such as docks and small harbours, which would help elderly tourists aboard cruise ships visit communities, without having to crawl over slippery rock breakwaters.

A pessimist may suggest luring too many tourists too soon may actually hurt Nunavut's ability to foster a tourism industry. But Dickens says it's the other way around: bring the tourists, and the quality of service will follow.

Nunavut Tourism has also worked in other small ways to make the territory more appealing to tourists. Exit surveys answered by tourists in 2006 showed one of the biggest complaints was the amount of visible garbage in communities.

To fix this eyesore in Iqaluit, Nunavut Tourism has worked with high school students to pick up litter throughout the year. And, in early October, garbage cans were installed around Iqaluit, thanks to a joint project by Nunavut Tourism and the City of Iqaluit.

Nunavut Tourism also launched a new web site in October. The old site was so old it did not display properly on some computers.

Nunavut received about 10,000 visitors from June to October 2006, according to an exit survey. From that number, Nunavut Tourism estimates the territory received 19,000 visitors during the whole year.

Half of those visitors come for business. One-third come for leisure or vacation. The rest come to visit friends or family or for education purposes.

These visitors spent $26 million in Nunavut.

Most visitors of Nunavut are at least 50 years of age. They're financially well-off and well-travelled. Most come from southern Canada, especially Ontario. There's also a substantial number of visitors from the United States, France and the United Kingdom.