by Kyle Wells [email protected] Selling experience, focusing on showpiece attractions and developing a brand were some of the ideas put forward at a workshop held to discuss the future of tourism on the Sunshine Coast.
Sunshine Coast Tourism, Tourism BC and Vancouver Coast and Mountains Tourism Region came together on Thursday, September 8 in Powell River to host a Strategic Planning Revisit Session on the future of tourism on the Sunshine Coast. The initiative, intended to help update a tourism plan that developed in 2007 through the Community Tourism Foundations program, is being funded by the ministry of jobs, tourism and innovation by way of Tourism BC.
Participants in the workshop were selected, from Sunshine Coast Tourism’s over 360 members, to represent various sectors of the tourism industry from Howe Sound to Desolation Sound. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss the successes and shortfalls since 2007 and to brainstorm strategies for the upcoming four or five years.
“What we’re doing is we’re revisiting that plan,” said Tourism BC facilitator Jennifer Houiellebecq, “so we’re saying what progress has been made and where do we want to go in the future? What have we achieved and what is our vision and our objectives for the future?”
Much has changed in the region since 2007 and members said that there have been many successes in that time. Product development, as seen with the Sunshine Coast Trail on the upper Sunshine Coast and Dakota Ridge Recreation Area on the lower Sunshine Coast, is an area members felt was of particular interest. Celia Robben, president of Sunshine Coast Tourism, sees these projects as world-class attractions that can become symbolic of what the area as a whole has to offer.
Also front and centre for the ongoing marketing strategy for the area is the concept of selling and promoting experiences rather than physical locations. With so many small towns in BC it’s hard to single out Powell River or Sechelt as an attraction, whereas marketing the area as a paradise for experiences, with all of the outdoor opportunities available, may be a more successful angle.
“‘Oh good, another town. Just what I want to go to is a town’, right?” said Robben. “I want to go world-class kayaking; I want to go camping; I want to walk a fabulous trail, where I may or may not see anyone else that day, with gorgeous rain forests and views over the ocean, things like that.”
Houiellebecq led a discussion the day before the workshop about the potential implementation of a hotel tax on the Sunshine Coast. Properly called the municipal and regional district tax, it would result in two per cent on top of other taxes from accommodation providers with more than four rooms. The money from the tax would go to the province and then back to Sunshine Coast Tourism for use in marketing and projects.
While only in its early stages of development, Sunshine Coast Tourism held the discussion to educate its members and accommodation providers on how the tax works.
Stemming from the discussions will be a report, prepared by Tourism BC, that will go to Sunshine Coast Tourism, who will host informational sessions this fall for its members to discuss recommendations and give feedback. The end result of the process will be a business plan for the next three to five years.
