Behind the headline growth figures sits an industry recalibrating on several fronts at once: travellers are rethinking where and how they spend their money; governments are tightening the rules around who can cross their borders and on what terms; and destinations from Venice to Kyoto are openly rationing the very demand that keeps their economies afloat. For operators, planners, and everyone working across the travel and tourism supply chain, 2026 is shaping up to be a year defined less by simple recovery and more by adaptation.

For years, “sustainable travel” functioned mostly as a marketing category, a badge hotels and tour operators could apply to a handful of green initiatives. That framing is shifting. Overtourism has become one of the defining pressures on the sector this year, and a wide range of governments have moved from talking about visitor caps to enforcing them. Venice has required QR-coded access for day trippers, Santorini has introduced a daily visitor cap, and Amsterdam has cut cruise calls and relocated docking further from its historic core to reduce pollution, noise, and crowding.

Barcelona has raised its combined hotel tax to up to €12 per person, per night, and doubled its nightly rate for five-star properties. Japan is tripling its international departure tax in July, alongside sharply higher lodging taxes in Kyoto, Hokkaido, and Hiroshima. Norway, a relative newcomer to this trend, is introducing a municipal tourism tax of up to three percent on overnight stays this summer to relieve pressure on its fjords and the Lofoten Islands.

The scale of these changes marks a genuine shift in strategy rather than a series of one-off fee hikes. Industry analysis of the trend frames the 2026 tax increases as a deliberate pivot toward high-value tourism, driven by overtourism concerns and environmental targets. Destinations are increasingly judging success by the value tourism delivers to residents and local infrastructure, not simply the volume of arrivals passing through.

That has direct consequences for how travellers plan trips and for how travel businesses need to position their offerings. Two-thirds of travellers say they would avoid a popular destination if they expected it to be crowded, and nearly half now actively support incentives for off-peak travel, according to Simon-Kucher’s Global Travel Trends 2026. The rise of the so-called “anti-tourism” traveller, someone deliberately seeking out quieter, less-visited alternatives to hotspot cities, is feeding a corresponding rise in interest around secondary destinations, with search interest in emerging spots now climbing noticeably faster than in a region’s established hubs.

Climate is compounding this shift. Changing weather patterns are steering more travellers toward off-season trips and destinations with milder, more predictable climates, adding an environmental dimension to decisions that were once made purely on cost or convenience. For operators, that means the destinations and travel windows considered “shoulder season” only a few years ago may need to be re-evaluated as peak product going forward.

None of this means eco-sensitive travel is a niche pursuit confined to a small segment of conscientious travellers. It is increasingly the default lens through which destinations are managing capacity, setting prices, and shaping the visitor experience, whether individual travellers are actively seeking sustainability or not.

If sustainability pressures are reshaping demand, geopolitical volatility is reshaping supply, specifically which regions and nationalities can move freely at all. Security intelligence firm S-RM notes that rising political tensions in various regions have driven new visa requirements and travel restrictions, while military tensions and open conflict elsewhere have triggered regional airspace closures, diverted flight routes, and evacuations. The firm points to a rise in disruptive incidents linked to Russian activity, including drone sightings that have triggered temporary airport closures across Europe, as an increasing factor affecting European travel specifically.

The United States has been a major source of this volatility in 2026. It has fully or partially suspended entry and visa issuance for nationals of 39 countries, including broad suspensions for 19 nations and narrower restrictions on visitor, student, exchange, and immigrant visas for 19 more.

The State Department’s Worldwide Caution, issued in July over heightened tensions in the Middle East, adds another layer of uncertainty for both leisure and business travellers. Travel industry groups have warned that these measures risk deterring international visitors and denting revenue in sectors that depend heavily on inbound tourism.

Europe, meanwhile, is tightening its own systems in the name of security and efficiency rather than restriction. The European Entry/Exit System, which replaces passport stamps with fingerprint and facial recognition data, becomes fully operational in April, making overstays past the 90/180-day limit far easier to detect. The European Travel Information and Authorisation System follows later in the year, requiring pre-travel authorization for visa-exempt visitors from the U.K., the U.S., Canada, and Australia among others. Visa rules are changing quickly enough in 2026 that keeping track of the requirements has itself become part of the planning for individual travellers and corporate travel managers alike.

For an industry that runs on predictability, booking windows, and cancellation policies, this level of regulatory flux is a genuine operational headache. Even the anticipation of new restrictions can shift booking behaviour before any rule changes, as travellers and travel managers alike hedge toward destinations with more stable entry conditions.

Corporate travel budgets are rising regardless, projected to reach $1.69 trillion globally in 2026, but travel teams are having to build far more contingency and verification into every itinerary than they did even two years ago.

Cost sits at the intersection of both trends above, and it is arguably the pressure travellers feel most directly. Tourist taxes alone can now add hundreds of dollars to a two-week, multi-city trip, a cost that rarely appears transparently at the point of booking the way flights or hotel rates do. That has already begun to nudge behaviour toward what one industry report calls “destination dupes,” lower-cost or lower-profile alternatives to the cities absorbing the heaviest new levies.

At the same time, spending on travel itself is not contracting. American Express’s 2026 Global Travel Trends Report found that 40 percent of respondents plan to spend more on travel this year than last, and 74 percent of Millennials and Gen Z surveyed describe travel as a non-negotiable expense rather than a discretionary one. “Travellers are being incredibly intentional about how they spend their vacation time,” says Audrey Hendley, President of American Express Travel. A meaningful share of younger travellers say they would even accept a job with fewer benefits in exchange for greater flexibility to travel.

That intentionality is producing a split within the travel market rather than a uniform one. Deloitte’s 2026 Travel Industry Outlook identifies a bifurcation inside the luxury segment itself: ultra-luxury properties remain largely insulated from economic headwinds, while mass-market luxury and premium cabin upgrades are showing early signs of softness as more affluent travellers turn price-conscious. Budget-conscious travellers are not disappearing; they are simply becoming more deliberate about where their money goes, prioritizing experiences and flexibility over volume or status.

Technology is playing an increasingly direct role in how travellers manage this squeeze. Nearly a quarter of travellers now use generative AI tools to plan trips, per Deloitte’s research, three times the share who did in 2022, even as the industry works to connect AI-assisted planning more seamlessly with actual booking and content. Google’s AI Mode now assembles full day-by-day itineraries complete with hotel recommendations and loyalty options, and hotels are using AI to personalize everything from room preferences to in-stay amenities before a guest even arrives.

For cost-conscious travellers, that same technology is also becoming a tool for finding value, comparing properties, surfacing lesser-known destinations, and building itineraries that avoid the newest layers of tourist taxation.

Running alongside the financial and regulatory pressures is a less tangible but equally consistent theme: travellers want their trips to mean something. Wellness tourism is projected to surpass $1 trillion globally this year.

American Express’s research found that a large majority of respondents believe the skills or experiences they gain while travelling stay with them longer than any souvenir would. Nearly nine in 10 global respondents say they like to leave room in their itinerary for unplanned local discoveries, and roughly three-quarters say they are likely to try something outside their comfort zone while away from home, a figure that climbs even higher among Millennial and Gen Z travellers.

This pursuit of authenticity dovetails naturally with the anti-tourism trend discussed above: travellers avoiding overcrowded hotspots are often the same travellers seeking deeper, more localized experiences rather than checklist sightseeing. For operators, that suggests genuine opportunity in secondary destinations and community-based tourism, provided the infrastructure and staffing exist to support a more personalized style of service.

One further trend deserves mention alongside the headline pressures of sustainability, geopolitics, and cost: the composition of leadership within the sector itself. The appointment of Shaikha Al Nowais as Secretary-General of UN Tourism marks the first time a woman has led the organization, and it arrives alongside a broader recognition that hospitality, an industry built on people and local communities, has historically underrepresented women in senior roles relative to its workforce.

Julia Simpson, President and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council since 2021, continues to shape policy across sustainability and workforce development for a forum representing 200 CEOs across airlines, hotels, cruise lines, and travel agencies.

Whether such a shift in leadership translates into faster progress on the sector’s other challenges remains to be seen, but it is a structural change worth tracking alongside the more immediately visible trends.

No single trend defines travel and tourism this year. Instead, the sector is navigating three pressures simultaneously: destinations imposing real limits on visitor volume in the name of sustainability; governments tightening and complicating cross-border movement for security and political reasons; and travellers recalibrating how and where they spend against a backdrop of rising, less transparent costs.

Businesses that treat these as separate, isolated issues risk being caught out by all three at once. Those that build flexibility into pricing and traveller communication while leaning on technology to personalize the experience without adding friction stand the best chance of turning a genuinely complex operating environment into a competitive advantage.

The post The New Rules of Getting Away<p class="company">Sustainability, Security, and Cost Are Reshaping Travel</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

This generational transition is a crucial opportunity for venture-backed companies seeking long-term success and a major impact. Companies that cater to older citizens must approach product development, marketing, and customer acquisition differently than traditional digital companies that target younger people. Successful businesses in this sector recognize that seniors are a distinct market with particular requirements, tastes, and purchasing patterns with a need for customized solutions.

Despite comprising only 15 percent of the world’s population, people over 60 account for 27 percent of private consumption worldwide, or approximately $18.9 trillion, according to SilverEco. With four major segments—Silver Living & Care, Longevity Health, Longevity Finance, and Senior Tourism—and an additional $609 billion in related areas including integrated retirement communities and lifetime learning, the market is currently valued at $4.5 trillion.

The need for care solutions, preventive health, financial security, and services tailored to longer, more active lives is driving consistent growth in all key segments. Beyond market expansion, the Silver Economy represents a structural shift that positions longevity as a key factor in consumer spending, innovation, and economic growth in coming decades, says SilverEco.

The so-called “Silver Generation,” once thought to be a group on the periphery of economic activity, is now a major player in the economy and a growth engine in and of itself. This significant shift means seniors are no longer only service receivers; with rising aspirations for comfort, autonomy, health, and quality of life, they have grown into a structurally significant consumer segment.

The $1.3 trillion Silver Living & Care market includes home-based services, housing options, and daily life support systems, situated at the core of issues relating to autonomy and dependency. The $900 billion Longevity Health segment is growing at a rapid rate as well, encompassing age-related therapies, preventive medicine, and wellness strategies meant to improve quality of life. Growing at the fastest rate among these segments—7.3 percent annually—this segment reflects rising investments in medical research, prevention, and solutions that promote longer, healthier lives.

Valued at an estimated $900 billion, the Longevity Finance sector addresses issues related to pensions, insurance, wealth management, and income security brought on by longer life expectancies, and demonstrates how the financial industry is adjusting to the economic realities of longevity with an average yearly growth rate of 6.3 percent.

Additionally, the $800 billion Senior Tourism segment reflects older consumers’ evolving lifestyles. Seniors are investing more in travel, wellness, and cultural experiences because they are more mobile and active than earlier generations. This segment’s 6.9 percent yearly rise highlights how older consumers are becoming more significant in the travel and leisure sectors.

The rate at which the world’s population is aging is unparalleled, agree World Data Lab’s Anna Kiknadze and Regan Leggett. Since 1960, the average life expectancy has increased by over 25 years, from roughly 48 to 74, while the overall fertility rate has decreased from 4.7 to 2.2.

People 60 and older will control $19 trillion of the $70 trillion that consumers will spend in 2026. In other words, 27 percent of expenditure is controlled by just 15 percent of the population. According to World Data Lab’s projections, this will increase to $34 trillion by 2036, when those 60 years of age or older will spend almost one-third of all consumer dollars worldwide.

There is a niche market for products and services made for aging people in addition to this overall high spending, say Kiknadze and Leggett. The most obvious example of an economy already undergoing change is the United States, and by 2036, seniors are expected to account for 33 percent of all consumer spending in the country, up from 30 percent currently.

Far from being inactive or resistant to technology, today’s 60-plus customers are optimistic, tech-savvy, and value-driven, Kiknadze and Leggett add. Additionally, they are avid digital adopters, with 34.5 percent of health and beauty purchases on TikTok Shop made by individuals 55 and older, a higher percentage than those between the ages of 35 and 54.

Technology-enabled solutions are in high demand due to the combination of digital fluency and the desire for independent, healthy aging. Even though many “age tech” categories hardly existed five years ago, they are expanding at two to three times the market average within the silver economy. Smart-home and ambient assisted-living systems are growing at a rate of 17 percent per year, while fraud protection technology is growing at a rate of 15 percent, driven by consumers who wish to age in place. Similarly, a consumer base actively utilizing technology to preserve autonomy and vitality is reflected in wearables and health-monitoring products (14 percent) and eldercare robotics and AI companions (12 percent).

To capitalize on this generational shift, companies need to adopt universal design, building for elder consumers from the start rather than retrofitting items for an aging audience; use health as a key organizational element; and completely reconsider how to discuss aging. Effective silver consumer messaging treats the 60-plus market as aspirational participants rather than passive patients, emphasizing vitality, potential, and active life engagement.

In Canada, recent studies indicate that Canadians over 55 are increasingly influencing how money is spent throughout the economy. According to a HomeEquity Bank poll, older Canadians are influencing important trends in health and well-being, travel expenditures, and technology usage, says Steven Brennan at Money.ca. These findings have ramifications that go far beyond retirement planning: with one-third of Canadians over 55, their financial habits are increasingly serving as a predictor of future consumer demand trends.

The use of technology, especially artificial intelligence, is growing among older Canadians, with 35 percent intending to experiment with AI in 2026 and four out of 10 interested in trying AI capabilities in the tools and apps they already use. Those between the ages of 55 and 64 are considerably more interested. Many older Canadians are utilizing AI as a personal assistant, helping with anything from vacation planning and language translation to budgeting tools, fraud detection, and smart-home features that make daily tasks easier, rather than seeing it through the lens of employment disruption.

The stakes for financial security are also on the rise, with the need for simple, safe, and user-friendly digital solutions highlighted by the fact that older Canadians are becoming more vulnerable to fraud scams as they become more engaged online.

Domestic travel is still of utmost importance, and 70 percent of senior Canadians anticipate maintaining or increasing their travel expenses in 2026, with 47 percent aiming to travel more within Canada, citing convenience, comfort, and accessibility.

When it comes to housing, baby boomers are rejecting the conventional aging model, which entails relocating from the family home into a nursing home, according to John Rampton at Due.com. Autonomy is highly desirable, with 84 percent of baby boomers and older adults choosing to age at home, according to the Northwestern Mutual 2025 Planning & Progress Study.

While memory care and assisted living are in high demand, services that help people avoid the need for those facilities in the first place offer more opportunities. This means more startups with expertise in retrofitting a smart house—adding aesthetically pleasing, modular home improvements like walk-in baths, voice-activated lighting, and fall-detection flooring without making a house sterile or clinical—and providing localized, in-home care rather than disjointed “agency” structures, using technology to match families with qualified, screened caregivers.

Seniors are perfectly willing to embrace technological advancements as long as they are accessible and effective. These could mean wearables that track vital signs, gait stability, and hydration and send the information straight to a physician; interfaces with larger touch targets, high contrast, and voice-first navigation created especially for aging hands and eyes; and the application of technology platforms and therapies to identify cognitive decline early and limit its progression.

Other areas of potential interest and growth, according to Rampton, include internet, print, and television advertisements, with only 10 to 20 percent of same currently targeting the 50-plus age group and with a dearth of lifestyle products that cater to active, engaged seniors rather than treating them as patients. Senior health goods without the “clinical” branding are in demand, he says, as is transportation as a service, with some seniors requiring concierge-style transportation in addition to Uber and Lyft options, and finally—and notably—leisure and travel. Boomers are investing more in their experiences, so startups in the tourism industry that focus on education or are “multigenerational” are expanding rapidly.

Growing older no longer means a retreat from social and economic life but rather ongoing engagement, education, and consumption. Although the Silver Economy has been growing for years, the latest data 2026 shows that this is a long-term structural change rather than a fad. Businesses and public policy must quickly adjust to longer lifespans and shifting cultural expectations.

The Silver Economy is becoming one of the main economic forces of the 21^st century, and the concern for businesses now is not whether this market is important, but rather how to strategically place themselves inside it. Today’s 60-plus consumer is more affluent per capita than the working-age population, expanding at the fastest rate of any generation, proficient with technology, and actively making investments to live better and longer. The companies who identify these changes first—and respond accordingly—will be the ones that prosper in the upcoming years.

The post Silver Linings<p class="company">Big Business Abounds for an Aging Population</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

“It was really in response to the needs of low-to-moderate income households across the county at the time, and our work has really evolved over those 50 years,” explains Executive Director, Julie Siegert, of the CDA’s origins. “We have expanded from our housing work to include economic development, homeownership initiatives, redevelopment activities, and more.”

To celebrate its 50^th anniversary, the CDA moved from its previous facility into a new building at 100 5^th Avenue East in Shakopee, Minnesota. Used for the administration of CDA’s operations, the structure also provides 60 affordable housing units for seniors. Addressing housing needs across Scott County, Siegert says the CDA’s current mission is to invest in possibilities to live and work in the county. “It’s really reflective of the work we do in housing as well as the work we do with businesses.”

Challenges, meet opportunities
Like many other communities across America, Scott County continues to face affordable housing challenges for people at all stages of life. This includes younger persons looking for their first apartment, growing families needing a single-family home, older adults looking to downsize, and older persons. The CDA actively seeks to provide life-cycle housing opportunities for all stages.

The CDA’s website features an abundance of valuable information on everything from available housing units to waiting lists, affordable rental homes, landlord information, the Center for Entrepreneurship, community development, and more. The downloadable Scott County CDA 2026 Resource Packet provides details on everything from housing and financial resources to homeownership resources and important events, like first-time homebuyer workshops.

Serving a combined population of 159,100, the CDA works with eight cities and 10 townships on a wide range of housing solutions. Back in the early 2000s, Scott County was Minnesota’s fastest-growing county, and although this was positive and added almost 5,000 jobs, the growth has presented some challenges in terms of rental prices and housing availability.

According to SCALE (Scott County Association for Leadership and Efficiency), the goal is to have enough jobs for 50 percent of the workforce to live and work nearby. The combined 18 municipalities/local government units differ in size and type; some are less populated, in more rural settings like Credit River and Elko New Market, while larger suburban communities include Savage and county seat Shakopee, home to about 50,000 residents. This diversity has called for the CDA to explore different types of housing options in both suburban and rural areas, the latter of which are often underrepresented. Brentwood Court is one example; created through a collaboration to create 50 market-rate senior community apartments, Brentwood Court’s units range from studios to two-bedroom units. The project also saw the development of spaces for a much-needed clinic, pharmacy, and library.

“We are trying to provide housing choice across the county,” says Siegert. “Our role as the CDA is, we may be coming in with a more affordable product, but there are certainly a lot of market-rate housing choices across the county to build on the amenities we have. We have a lot of beautiful lakes here, so if you’re a CEO looking to live in our county and establish your business here, or if you’re in the workforce and you need a more attainable home, the goal is to provide housing across that continuum.”

Open for business
In terms of access to infrastructure, Scott County and its communities truly deliver on all fronts. U.S. Highway 169 goes through the county seat of Shakopee and connects to the Twin Cities metro area, a popular manufacturing corridor. The east side also boasts Interstate 35 and a new industrial park. “Transportation proximity to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) is an asset, as well as access to the labor pool in the Twin Cities metropolitan area,” says Jo Foust, Business and Community Development Director.

Shakopee is also home to the St. Francis Regional Medical Center, which ranks nationwide in the top 10 percent of hospitals for care and quality and serves Scott County and surrounding communities. The entire area is also home to many new and long-time businesses and industries, including Rahr Malting, which supplies breweries across America. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota (SMSC) operates a casino, hotel, and restaurants employing about 4,200 individuals, while Amazon has a large fulfillment center and distribution operations with about 2,500 workers.

Other larger employers include Emerson, active in industrial automation and flow controls, the Valleyfair amusement park, The Imagine Group, computer giant Seagate Technology, cybersecurity expert Entrust Corporation, cryogenics company Chart Industries, and many others. 500 employee-strong GN Group, renowned for audio and hearing technologies, recently moved to Shakopee.

Another incentive for companies interested in establishing roots in Scott County is its business parks. The first, River Valley Business Park, is readily accessible to Highway 169 in Shakopee and a short drive to MSP. Completed in late 2023, the industrial park features two buildings encompassing 449,893 square feet and is plug-and-play for new tenants.

Another new development is Park I-35, an ideal location for warehousing, logistics, and manufacturing, with easy access to major markets across the region and the nation. With 118 acres, Park I-35 has the potential to accommodate up to 1.5 million square feet of industrial space. The development is home to Niagara Bottling, a leading bottled water manufacturer that supplies national retailers across the country. “The project also represents the value of strong partnerships in attracting significant investment and job opportunities to the community,” says Michael Werneke, Business Development Manager. “We helped make that development come to fruition by partnering with the city, and they have a capacity for about one million square feet in that industrial park.”

Working with Minnesota commercial real estate brokers, Scott County proactively attracts new businesses to the area, and one of the CDA’s tools includes a broker’s day event, which sees representatives from cities and utilities provide information on available sites. Additionally, the CDA works in collaboration through Scott County area leaders on identifying key corridors, and has an economic development assistance program which provides funding to communities to ensure site readiness. Recently, the CDA has been working with Prior Lake City Council on adopting an Alternative Urban Areawide Review (AUR). The study of the City of Prior Lake and Spring Lake Township aims to open up over 2,700 acres for commercial, industrial, and residential use to be developed over the next 20 years. And in Spring Lake Township, the CDA is partially funding a study of a rural industrial park. The city of Jordan has a historic downtown, and the CDA paid for the demolition of an old building to prepare the site for redevelopment.

Tourism hub
All communities within Scott County, large and small, offer wonderful attractions for visitors. These include Valleyfair, a 90-acre amusement park in Shakopee, and the Canterbury Park horse racing track. Running from late August to October, the Minnesota Renaissance Festival remains a top three Renaissance festival in the country in terms of size and attendance.

Alongside Mystic Lake—one of the larger casinos in the Midwest—this year saw the opening of the new Mystic Lake Amphitheater on the Canterbury Park development site. “It is one of the larger amphitheaters in the Midwest, with a 19,000-seat capacity,” says Tim Zunker, President at the Shakopee Chamber & Visitors Bureau. This year saw about 40 shows booked in a shorter time frame, from June to September, including national and regional acts. “So we have a large presence within the hospitality/tourism sector in Shakopee,” Zunker says.

Working toward the future
Today, the Scott County Community Development Agency is building on housing and business initiatives to position itself for the years to come. Although the county doesn’t have a community technical college yet, the CDA is active in workforce training programs in partnership with regional community and technical colleges like Dakota County Technical College (DCTC) and Inver Hills Community College. These relationships, and others with businesses in the area, are helping Scott County thrive.

“Over the past few years, we’ve worked with these partners to bring in grants and other funding mechanisms to train and retain workforce inside the county in areas like manufacturing, health care, hospitality, and different sectors where there is a need for those training programs,” says Foust. A grant program with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development saw almost 170 individuals trained, and others are currently being trained under another grant.

“We’ll probably end up training close to 200 individuals on that free training program inside the county,” shares Werneke. “We work with individuals who are in most need from a job standpoint and we connect to our business partners to help find them jobs, apprenticeships, or other opportunities with that employer.”

To be sure, one of the unique aspects of Scott County is SCALE (Scott County Association for Leadership and Efficiency), formed in 2003 to encourage greater efficiencies and leadership in public service through enhanced communication, collaboration of services, and sharing of resources. Members include elected and appointed officials from the cities, schools, and townships within Scott County, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, and Scott County. “When you have that foundation with governments operating together, it really makes it a lot easier for things to get accomplished,” says Siegert. That’s really one of the benefits of SCALE is the partnerships that have been formed across jurisdictions, which allows everyone to work more efficiently together.”

For the Scott County Community Development Agency, the work of community development is ultimately about creating the conditions for people and businesses to put down roots and thrive. From expanding housing choices and supporting new development to preparing workers for in-demand careers and strengthening connections between municipalities, businesses, schools, and other partners, the CDA continues to take a broad, collaborative approach to the county’s growth. As Scott County looks to the future, that spirit of cooperation will remain one of its greatest assets, helping to ensure that growth is not simply measured in new homes, jobs, businesses, and investment, but in the opportunities and quality of life those elements create for the people who call the county home.

The post The Power of Partnerships<p class="company">Scott County Community Development Agency</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Located only a short distance from Lake Country, Prince Albert is a centre for infrastructure, health services, education, and retail, while also serving the mining, forestry, and agricultural resource sectors in northern Saskatchewan. Part of Treaty 6 territory and home to First Nations including the Dakota and Métis Nations, the Woodland Cree, Plains Cree, Swampy Cree, and Dene, Prince Albert has one of the largest percentages of Indigenous people in Canada, embracing a variety of cultures and welcoming to all.

Exciting plans for the city include a downtown revitalization project, along with addressing the water and sewer infrastructure challenges that come with a city more than 100 years old.

“Our downtown already has unique stores and great restaurants, as well as a lot of heritage architecture,” says Ellen Pearson, Economic Development Planner. “We’re looking at taking this opportunity to not only upgrade the infrastructure but also enhance streetscaping and improve accessibility to bring more people downtown.”

Additionally, after 60 years of the downtown being a one-way street, Prince Albert will return to two-way traffic. “We really want to create that vibrant and economically diverse downtown where pedestrians, drivers, and anyone taking transit can find their way very easily,” Pearson says, adding that the tender for that project has been awarded and design work is underway. “We’re excited about taking the next step to make the downtown revitalization project a real thing.”

There are plenty of reasons to venture downtown, whether to experience an array of restaurants, local businesses, museums, galleries, and arts and culture events, or visit post-secondary institutions including the University of Saskatchewan, First Nations University of Canada, and the Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies & Applied Research.

“Our combination of educational resources and economic strength makes our region very attractive for new development and investment,” adds Michael Nelson, Planning and Development Manager. “Our city does feel that it’s a really valuable area, and that’s where our council has also implemented a construction incentive for renovations and projects in the downtown as well.”

These include development incentives for new commercial construction and renovation across the entire city, as well as additional incentives specific to developments in the Downtown Business Improvement District. Further incentives to support housing are currently being developed.

One of the most exciting economic development opportunities in Prince Albert is the sale of the former pulp mill site to the BMI Group, a Canadian company with a proven track record of redeveloping legacy industrial properties into thriving multi-user industrial hubs. BMI has indicated the site will be repurposed as a multi-tenant industrial and logistics campus, leveraging existing industrial infrastructure. There is rail access, connectivity, and significant power capacity on site, as well as a large amount of water.

“They have their own water treatment plant on site as well,” says Nelson. “This represents a transformation opportunity not only in Prince Albert but for northern Saskatchewan. Rather than relying on a single industrial operator, the vision is to attract a diverse mix of businesses.”

Boasting more than 2,000 acres, the site has direct rail access and up to 130 megawatts of available power to make it one of the most significant industrial redevelopment opportunities in Western Canada, aligning well with Prince Albert’s long-term growth and economic diversification.

This ongoing project is currently looking for a variety of tenants and groups in an effort to bring in a diverse hub in the future. “We want to see continued investment in the property that generates stable, quality jobs,” says Pearson. “We want to encourage the development of industries that provide long-term economic benefits for the community.”

Another exciting local venture is the Prince Albert Victoria Hospital expansion, which is scheduled for completion in 2028 and continues to be one of the most significant public infrastructure projects in Saskatchewan. With construction now surpassing the 50 percent completion mark, the project remains on schedule and is delivering a modern healthcare facility that will serve Prince Albert and the entire north half of the province.

The new acute care tower will increase capacity by about 40 percent, growing inpatient beds from 174 to 242 and adding larger emergency and operating rooms, dedicated pediatric and maternity spaces, a new mental health unit, expanded intensive care services, a rooftop heliport, and the region’s first MRI. Beyond healthcare, the project is creating economic benefits through construction, employment, local procurement opportunities, and improved capacity to attract and retain healthcare professionals.

“It’s going to help strengthen Prince Albert’s role as a healthcare hub for northern Saskatchewan and support long-term community growth,” says Nelson. “It’s just such a huge project for our community. Completing that and knowing we’re continuing to be the centre for the entire North in providing healthcare and services is a really big accomplishment.”

All of these unique projects are highly anticipated within the community and are set to benefit not only Prince Albert but the province as a whole. But, with development comes the challenge to create adequate, affordable housing.

“Given that we’ve got the hospital project and the redevelopment of the pulp mill site underway, we completed a housing needs assessment in 2025, just to see where we were sitting with housing needs in the community,” says Pearson. “Housing supply is a challenge in communities across Canada, but this housing needs assessment gave us the data to understand what that means for Prince Albert. It showed that we don’t have enough affordable housing to begin with, and with the expansion of the hospital and redevelopment of the mill site, in the next 10 years, the demand for housing is going to continue to grow. We need to make sure we’re building enough housing to support that growth.”

The housing strategy also identified the importance of working with local partners to help meet the city’s housing needs. Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation is starting construction on the Eagle Ridge housing development on their urban reserve, a five-storey building with 54 residential units and underground parking, with a blend of market and affordable housing opportunities. “Many of our Indigenous partners have purchased property in Prince Albert, and we’re looking forward to seeing new construction projects being pursued in the coming years,” says Nelson.

The housing strategy and action plan also gave the city a roadmap for how to address gaps and discrepancies to make housing easier to build in the community. “In the next few years, things will hopefully be moving on the housing front,” adds Pearson.

All of these community initiatives were undertaken with the input and approval of the city’s residents, who have a personal understanding and appreciation of what the area has to offer. “There were community meetings, so we heard at that time what people wanted for the downtown,” says Pearson. “A lot of that was taken into consideration when the recommendation was put to council to switch to two-way traffic and increase sidewalk spaces for more outdoor patio space, walkability, more accessibility, and to make our downtown easier to visit. That feedback from the community, businesses, and residents was factored into the decision,” she says.

With the University of Saskatchewan’s Prince Albert campus now located downtown, being mindful of the influx of students and staff at that facility is also an important consideration.

“Prince Albert offers a unique combination of urban amenities, economic opportunity, natural beauty, and northern accessibility,” says Nelson. Located at the gateway to northern Saskatchewan, the city serves as a regional centre for healthcare, education, services, retail, and businesses. Residents and visitors enjoy access to world-class outdoor recreation, including Prince Albert National Park and the 1,200-acre Little Red River Park within the city limits itself. The city also hosts vibrant cultural and family-oriented community events throughout the year, including the annual Pine Needle Mountain Bike Festival, various music festivals, and the Downtown Street Fair that takes place each summer.

Another project of note is the completion of the Lake Country Co-op Leisure Centre, which opened in 2025 and is the largest recreational infrastructure project in Prince Albert’s history. The aquatic centre features a 25-meter competitive pool, diving boards, wave pool and lazy river, water slides, and a hot tub. Not only can it host regional and provincial swim competitions, but it has also expanded access to aquatic programming with the largest selection of swimming lessons and certification courses ever offered.

The other half of the Leisure Centre includes the twin arenas—two NHL-sized rinks, increased seating, and expanded dressing room facilities to accommodate tournaments of all sizes. “It’s a huge asset to the community,” Pearson says. “Since opening, it has not only brought so many more tournaments and team events to our city but also expanded the capacity of things like swimming lessons in our community and allowed more people to take advantage of those programs.”

Nelson also wants to stress that Prince Albert is always open to welcoming innovative and diverse industries and business opportunities. “If anyone’s interested in learning more about our city or about investing, please contact us,” he says. “We have new and different construction incentives. We have renovation incentives. We have downtown incentives, and we’re working on more housing incentives in the next few coming months as well.”

In short, the city offers myriad opportunities for those looking to invest.

“For businesses, Prince Albert offers strategic access to northern markets, strong transportation connections, and a young workforce,” says Nelson. “These strengths continue to make Prince Albert an attractive place to live, work, and invest and build a future.”

The post Live, Work, Invest: Building a Home in the Heart of North Central Saskatchewan<p class="company">City of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Rocky Mountain Supply traces its history back to two predecessor cooperatives, Gallatin Farmers Company in Belgrade, Montana, founded in 1931, and Coop Supply of Dillon, established in 1938. Both companies emerged from the Great Depression era, when farmers and ranchers across Montana banded together to gain better buying power, particularly for the gasoline and diesel their operations depended on.

“A lot of coops were formed coming out of the Great Depression era,” says Brad Gjermo, Chief Executive Officer. “They were looking for ways to enhance their buying power and to purchase things more competitively, and it did generally start surrounding the petroleum industry.”

Over the decades, the two coops merged to form Rocky Mountain Supply, expanding well beyond fuel to serve the full range of needs facing modern producers. What began as a way to secure better prices on petroleum has grown into a company with a presence across nearly every corner of rural life.

The agricultural landscape Rocky Mountain Supply serves today looks markedly different than it did 90 years ago. According to Jason Rorabaugh, Chief Operating Officer, agriculture is far less labor intensive than it once was, and the number of individual farms and ranches has fallen dramatically as the industry has consolidated. Total farmed acreage has held relatively steady and livestock numbers remain comparable to where they stood in the 1930s, but the operations working that land today are much larger than their predecessors.

Gjermo points to two forces behind that shift: consolidation and technology. Some acreage has been lost to urban development over the decades, he says, but the producers who remain are operating at a scale that would have been unrecognizable to the coop’s founders. Machinery and equipment have advanced accordingly, and Rocky Mountain Supply has had to keep pace, adapting its own facilities and equipment to serve fewer, larger operations rather than a high volume of small ones.

“We like to look at ourselves as kind of a business partner,” Gjermo says. “We’re here to help them succeed in what they’re doing, and we try to play our role in providing them what they need to be successful.”

Rocky Mountain Supply operates as the only cooperative in its trade territory, a distinction that shapes its entire business model. The company is owned by its members, and its mission centers on serving them rather than external shareholders.

“The customer is the company,” Rorabaugh says. “It doesn’t really benefit Brad or me per se; we’re just employees of the company, but the members are the owners. So, when Rocky Mountain Supply is successful, we return dividends and patronage back to the members.”

Each year, the coop distributes its earnings back to members in a combination of cash and equity. Retaining a portion as equity allows the company to reinvest in its own operations without relying entirely on outside borrowing.

“That equity portion that we retain helps finance the company and reinvest back in it, replacing and adding assets,” Gjermo explains. “Instead of us distributing everything that we make back to the membership in cash, we retain part of it, so we’re not having to borrow to reinvest back in the company.”

Governance follows the same member-first model. Gjermo reports to a seven-member board of directors elected by the coop’s voting membership, all of whom are working farmers or ranchers. As a producer cooperative, only agricultural producers may serve on the board or vote on governance matters such as director elections and mergers. Membership itself remains open to anyone, and all members share in the company’s profits regardless of voting status. The distinction, Gjermo explains, is purely about governance—anyone can be a member and benefit from the cooperative, but shaping its direction is reserved for the producers it was built to serve.

While Rocky Mountain Supply’s producer members remain central to its mission, its customer base has diversified considerably over the years. At least half of the company’s business today comes from non-producers, including a growing roster of commercial customers in construction and excavating, alongside a large volume of retail business through its farm supply and convenience stores. The company’s product range has expanded well past its agricultural origins to include clothing and sporting goods, categories that did not exist within the coop’s offerings in 1931.

Gjermo frames that growth as a natural extension of the cooperative’s role in rural America. Because Rocky Mountain Supply operates primarily in small agricultural communities, it has taken on the job of providing goods and services that might not otherwise be available locally. “We play the role of providing goods and services that others may not be able to, or are not providing in the community,” he says. “That’s what’s driven us to be more diverse than we were when we were formed almost 100 years ago.”

That diversification has required real investment. Serving customers across agriculture, commercial, and consumer segments takes far more product knowledge than the coop needed in its early decades, and the company has built out its staff and expertise accordingly.

Rocky Mountain Supply employs agronomists and energy specialists who provide education and support alongside the products the coop sells. The company holds regular customer meetings throughout the year to share information with its membership, a practice Rorabaugh ties directly back to the cooperative model.

Technology plays an increasing role in how that support gets delivered. Rocky Mountain Supply has used remote fuel tank monitoring for several decades, improving delivery efficiency while giving customers visibility into their own inventory levels. Its agronomy team has adopted drones for field scouting, allowing staff to survey a 300-acre field far faster than would be possible on foot. On the administrative side, the company has begun implementing artificial intelligence and Power BI tools to strengthen its accounting and decision-making.

Rorabaugh expects the shift toward AI to accelerate. “I think AI is probably the biggest thing that’s come along in technology since probably the invention of the internet,” he says. “I don’t even think we’ve scratched the surface of what’s going to be possible.”

Rocky Mountain Supply currently employs between 160 and 180 people, depending on the season, and Rorabaugh attributes the company’s employee retention less to any single program than to the overall environment it has built for its team. Wages and benefits are competitive, he says, but freshly remodeled stores, a modern administration building, a newer vehicle and delivery fleet, and a generous approach to paid time off all contribute to turnover rates that run significantly below national averages across every part of the business. “Providing a good, comfortable workspace and a good culture is really what sets us apart,” he says.

One of the more distinctive pieces of Rocky Mountain Supply’s community role is its foundation, established roughly a year and a half ago. Its origin traces directly back to the cooperative’s ownership structure. When the company distributes patronage and equity payments to members, a portion of those checks occasionally goes unclaimed. Rather than let those funds sit idle, Rocky Mountain Supply created an informal foundation to redirect that money back into the communities it serves.

The foundation’s mission centers on three priorities: supporting agricultural education, particularly for young people considering a career in the industry; funding resources for fire departments and other first responders to better serve their communities; and awarding grants that improve overall quality of life in the areas where Rocky Mountain Supply operates. The company has built a formal application and evaluation process for the program, with the board of directors making final decisions on which requests to fund.

To date, the foundation has distributed roughly $50,000 in grants, with another $25,000 planned over the next six months. The program is currently structured to distribute up to $50,000 annually, a figure Rocky Mountain Supply expects to grow over time. For Rorabaugh and Gjermo, the approach is simply an extension of the cooperative’s core purpose: channeling profits back to the people and places that generate them.

The foundation is only part of the picture. Over the past decade, Rocky Mountain Supply has reinvested close to $50 million into the company itself, upgrading assets, remodeling stores, constructing a new corporate office in 2017, and pursuing acquisitions. Looking at the broader 10-year picture, patronage dividends and equity retirement have returned close to $25 million in cash to the communities the coop serves.

“That all goes back to the people that we serve and the communities that we serve, that is ultimately reinvested back in those communities,” Gjermo says. “We plan to continue to do that well into the future, and hopefully those dollar amounts each year will continue to grow.”

Rocky Mountain Supply is continually investing in new ways to serve its members, and a new online shopping platform for its retail stores is still in the early stages, with more products being added regularly. A retail rewards program is set to launch this winter, returning cents per gallon on fuel purchases along with rewards on retail spending, an offering Rorabaugh describes as a natural evolution of the patronage model the cooperative has run for decades.

The company is also eyeing expansion into new communities, though leadership isn’t sharing specifics at this time. “We feel like there are some areas that we can grow into,” Gjermo shares. “We want to be able to expand that reach so the company can grow, but also so those communities can enjoy what we do the same as the communities we’re currently present in.”

For Rorabaugh and Gjermo, the message they hope readers take away is straightforward. “As a cooperative, our entire purpose and mission and passion is to serve our members,” Rorabaugh says. “Providing our agronomists and our livestock experts and our fuel experts and our people here in the office with what they need because at the end of the day, it’s all about customer service, and they’re our owners. Our goal when we come to work is to provide excellent service to them and provide them what they need to be successful.”

The post Putting Cooperation to Work<p class="company">Rocky Mountain Supply</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.