TOURISM

Camrose County is a hidden gem in Alberta's picturesque East Central region. Just 40 kilometres southeast of Edmonton along Highway 21, Camrose County offers the perfect blend of convenience and charm, making it an ideal destination for those seeking new experiences close to home.

Within the county's boundaries lie vibrant communities, including the City of Camrose, the Town of Bashaw, and charming villages and hamlets like Hay Lakes, Bittern Lake, and more. With a collective population of 30,000 residents, Camrose County offers a built-in market for tourism ventures.

Investors will be delighted to discover over 20 campgrounds nestled near beautiful county parks and lakes, including Miquelon Lake Provincial Park. Additionally, the region boasts seven golf courses, attracting tourists throughout the summer months.

Camrose County's rich agricultural landscape provides fertile ground for investment in farm tours and other ag experiences. Moreover, the county's German and Norwegian heritage adds a unique cultural flavour, enhancing its appeal to visitors seeking authentic experiences.

Throughout the year, Camrose County hosts many sports and community events, drawing visitors to its charming villages and hamlets. The City of Camrose, in particular, has earned a reputation as a premier event destination.

OPPORTUNITIES

Experiential tourism focuses on active participation and authentic engagement. Travelers seek to do, taste, learn, and connect, not simply observe.

Examples:

Food tours and tasting events
Guided hikes, birdwatching, wildlife viewing
Historical site tours and storytelling
Artisan workshops, maker classes
Cooking classes, fermentation or canning workshops
Musical, theatre, or cultural events
Seasonal festivals and community celebrations
Meet-the-producer or Meet-the-maker events
Saunas, yoga retreats, meditation sessions
Nature bathing and wellness sessions
Sport weekends, tournament-style trips

Agritourism links travel with rural, agricultural, and food-production experiences. It offers hands-on learning and direct access to the working landscapes that produce local food and goods.

Examples:

U-pick gardens, berry farms, and orchards
Farm-to-table dinners
Ranch and farm visits
Farmers’ markets and producer meetups
Local dairies, butchers, and cheese producers
Harvest tours and seasonal farm events
Hands-on farm stays and guest ranch experiences
Beekeeping, honey tours, and apiary visits
Specialty food workshops (cheese, fermentation, preserves)
Educational Adventure Tours
- Some ideas: Honey Bee Tours: Help others appreciate the crucial role our bees play in ecosystem propagation. Invite guests to suit up, visit a hive with a beekeeper, extract honey, or make a candle. Add-on value includes the creation of a wildflower garden, locally hand-crafted goods, or trails through the property.
- Garden and Adventure Farm: Combine a working farm with tourism and education. Welcome school groups to your property for lessons in herbology, animal care, plant and water life cycles, simple and complex machinery. Add-ons include holiday themed ticket sales for Easter Egg Hunts, Earth Day, Harvest, Thanksgiving, Pumpkin Carving.

Unique accommodations provide immersive stays that become part of the experience itself—not just a place to sleep.

Examples:

Glamping (yurts, domes, canvas tents)
Boutique cabins and tiny homes
Rural B&Bs with historic or thematic character
Farm stays and guest ranches
Lakeside cottage rentals
Campgrounds with experiential offerings (disc golf, farm tours, guided activities)
Heritage inns or converted historical buildings
Partnerships with working farms to provide overnight stays + farm activities (collecting eggs, planting gardens, harvesting produce).
Packages tied to local food experiences (farm-to-table meals, cooking classes, open-flame cooking, guest chefs, etc.)
Off-Grid Living, offering visitors an opportunity to test their self-reliance skills, disconnect from technology and connect with the land. Add-ons include teaching visitors to fish, hunt, cook outdoors, snowshoe or cross country ski, or to navigate all increase self-reliance and build both confidence and character.

Eco-tourism highlights nature, conservation, and sustainable outdoor recreation. Travelers seek learning, mindfulness, and connection to natural spaces.

Examples:

Birdwatching, wildlife observation, nature walks
Canoeing, kayaking, paddleboarding
Sustainable camping and low-impact retreats
Dark-sky astronomy experiences
Educational eco-tours and biodiversity programs
Hiking and cross-country skiing
Guided photography in natural settings
Trail networks, cycling routes, outdoor recreation loops
Guided or Self-Guided Outdoor & Heritage Tours
- Food Forest & Prairie Tours: These can be developed on local farms, through farmers’ markets, or in collaboration with food education partners such as the Food Artisans of Camrose County and the Roundhill Educational Pavilion. Visitors learn about native plants, regenerative agriculture, and local food systems directly from those who cultivate them.
- Badlands Treks: Experiences such as those offered by La PrairieAire provide guided treks focused on dinosaur fossils, prairie ecology, and Indigenous heritage. These tours showcase the unique geological story of the region while deepening cultural and environmental understanding.
- Paddling Experiences: Local vendors can offer canoe, kayak, paddleboard, and non-motorized boat rentals for our lakes and waterways. These calm, nature-immersive experiences allow visitors to explore wetlands from a new vantage point and connect with the landscape at their own pace.

Wellness Retreats appeal to visitors who seek comfort in nature and specialized treatment or healing

- Partner with local entrepreneurs to offer meditation, yoga, massage, counselling, reiki, acupuncture, and other wellness experiences that support relaxation, healing, and stress reduction.
- Collaborate with local makers and educators to host gardening or harvesting experiences, cooking classes, bread baking workshops, or traditional arts such as basket weaving.
- Engage Indigenous elders and knowledge keepers to guide visitors into plant medicine teachings, beading workshops, fireside storytelling, and cultural drumming, singing, or dancing.
- Offer two-eyed seeing journeys or paddling experiences that honour the traditional and ancestral homelands, lands, and waters of the Treaty 6 Peoples—the Cree, Dene, Blackfoot, Saulteaux, Nakota Sioux, Inuit, and Métis—who have lived here since time immemorial.

CAMROSE COUNTY TOURISM ASSETS

CAMPGROUNDS

Bashaw Campground

Bashaw Golf and Country Club & RV Park

Bawlf Jubilee Park Campground

Bluebird RV Park

Camrose RV Park

Cherry Lane B&B and Campground

Country Nine Golf Course and Campground

Double Dam Golf Course Campground

Edberg Campground

Ferintosh Campground

Ferry Point Campground

Hay Lakes Telegraph Park Campground

Miquelon Lake Provincial Park Campground

Miquelon Hills Golf Course Campground

New Norway Campground

Pelican Point Campground

Round Hill Campground

Rozi's Retreat Campground

Silver Creek Golf & RV Resort

Tillicum Campground

Whistle Stop Golf and Campground

Willow Grove Family Campground

PARKS

Camrose County Nature Conservation Centre

Hay Lakes Telegraph Park

Meeting Creek Natural Linear Park Trail

Miquelon Lake Provincial Park & Beaver Hills Biosphere (UNESCO

Pelican Point Park

Tillicum Beach Park

MUSEUMS

Camrose & District Centennial Museum

Camrose Railway Museum & Park

Bashaw Fire Hall Museum

Kingman Regional School Museum

Donalda & District Museum

Meeting Creek Railway Station and Grain Elevator

Verdun School Site

HISTORICAL CHURCHES

HISTORICAL GRAIN ELEVATORS

FOOD ARTISANS OF CAMROSE COUNTY

“Camrose County has been absolutely wonderful, always ready to assist or guide us in the right direction. They provide lots of support in the way of advertising and even utilizing our services. The community is small and tight knit. Everyone has been so supportive. Fellow business colleagues bring and refer clients to us. We’re running a successful year-round operation in a rural area, half an hour out of Camrose.”

Melissa Wilson

Co-Owner, Cherry Lane B&B and Cafe

“Camrose County has made it easy to do business. It has been easy to obtain the appropriate permits to build and expand our facilities. They actively promote our company on their website, regularly reach out to us, and even organize tours of our site, which highlights their genuine involvement. Furthermore, given that we are in the heart of malt barley country, we also benefit from easy access to high-quality products.”

Darrell Helgeland

Co-Owner and Head of Sales & Marketing, 3D Malt Ltd.

“Cargill is proud to operate a number of facilities in Camrose County including oilseed processing, grain elevator, crop inputs retail, fertilizer retailer and distribution, and an animal nutrition feed mill. Central Alberta is an important canola-growing region, making it key to helping Cargill nourish the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way, while also supporting the demand for renewable fuel. Our teams live, work and are active volunteers in this community. We are committed to engaging with all of our partners within Camrose County and the region. Together we are able to go farther than we could on our own.”

Tom Hill

Cargill Agricultural Supply Chain Facility Leader, Alberta Crush Plant

“The Camrose Region has been an exceptional area for our business, offering numerous advantages that have contributed to our growth. The rapid development in Camrose has created a dynamic environment for business. The solid infrastructure and development in the region directly support our operations. Camrose County’s commitment to infrastructure, especially in maintaining and investing in roads and culverts, extends the longevity of these assets and creates work for operations like ours. Looking ahead, we’re optimistic about the potential projects in the near future. All these factors combined make Camrose Region a strategic and thriving location for our company”.

Tarren Pidherney

Vice President, Road to Rail Construction Group Inc.

WORKFORCE

Camrose County, compared with the Alberta province, has more people working in the agriculture industry. It employs 24% of Camrose County's labour force.

Investors eyeing opportunities in the tourism sector will find themselves in a favorable position, with access to a highly qualified and skilled ag labor pool, including seasonal labour, thanks to the presence of the University of Alberta Augustana Campus.

SUPPORT FOR TOURISM BUSINESSES

Alberta Tourism Market Monitor: Monthly tourism data on travel, accommodation, and attendance statistics.
Active Communities Initiative - Provides funding to eligible community groups, non-profit organizations and societies, and First Nations and Metis Settlements, that wish to build or enhance active spaces that support sport and recreation in their communities. The grant is intended for small-and-mid-sized projects, including indoor and outdoor skating rinks, community pools, indoor turf centres, pickleball courts, sports fields and courts, and other sport and recreational facilities.
Major Sports Events Grant Program - Provides community organizations an opportunity to build upon Alberta’s strengths for hosting national and international events.
Alberta Hotel & Lodging Association
Alberta Open Farms Days

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Contact Us

Economic Development
3755 - 43 Avenue, Camrose, AB T4V 3S8
Phone: 780-678-3070 | Email: ecdev@county.camrose.ab.ca