Council of Tourism Associations of British Columbia- News Release

The Council of Tourism Associations (COTA) and partners have released a detailed report, available by clicking here, revealing significant and often surprising information about the relationship between tourism and rural communities in north and central BC, including northern Vancouver Island and the North and Central Coast.

Some of the key findings in the report included the following:
- Tourism directly employs 15,600 people in the region, and 3,200 people indirectly
- The largest tourism occupation group is Management & Information Technology – workers in this category earn more than $40,000 per year on average
- Only about one in five (22%) of tourism jobs in the region are seasonal in nature, contrary to the popular belief that tourism is primarily a seasonal industry

“We were pleased that this study debunked a number of popular myths about the tourism industry,” said Jim Storie, Chair of the COTA Board of Directors. “After surveying about 1,500 businesses in North and Central BC, we can confidently say that tourism is not only a critical piece of the economy for the region, but the industry also provides many opportunities for rewarding, high-paying careers.”

“The study demonstrates that tourism plays an increasingly critical role in developing prosperous, diversified communities in British Columbia, said Mary Mahon Jones, President and CEO of COTA. “One example is with regard to employment trends – exactly one-quarter of the tourism businesses owners surveyed indicated that they intended to hire additional staff sometime in the next twelve months. This is phenomenal news.”

The results linked regional visitation levels directly to the accessibility of transportation networks, which suggests that the plans of the BC Ferry Corporation to increase capacity and to modernize the service for its fleet will benefit tourism in the region.

“The tourism industry can only achieve its full economic potential if we have the required transportation infrastructure in place,” said Bruce Wishart, Executive Director of Tourism Prince Rupert. “The best destination is doomed to fail if nobody can reach it. The growing tourism industry throughout the heartlands of North and Central BC—not just the coastal communities—absolutely relies upon the service provided by BC Ferries.”

While the influence of the pine beetle infestation on tourism is only beginning to be felt, the study nonetheless demonstrated that about 18% of tourism operators in the Cariboo region have already been negatively impacted by the epidemic. It is expected that while impacts on the tourism industry will increase, measures can be taken to mitigate these impacts.

The study concluded with a number of recommendations on how to support tourism in North and Central BC, including the need for:
1. Better data sources and access to data on tourism trends, to assist analysis and tracking of progress
2. Increased transportation and accommodation infrastructure
3. Support for marketing of connecting tours between the regions
4. Attention to workforce development initiatives
5. Development of cultural skills to support service to international clients
6. Attention to the deployment of more efficient border crossing processes and documentation to facilitate increases in US visitors
7. Continued COTA leadership in promoting better insurance and financing
8. Increased capacity in market-ready products and facilities
9. Adequate representation of the tourism industry in land use planning process and decisions

A full copy of the report is available by clicking here.

The Council of Tourism Associations is the voice of the BC tourism industry, representing BC's major tourism organizations and businesses. Tourism contributes $10 billion annually to the BC economy, and directly employs 118,000 workers.

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Contact:
Peter Larose, Director of Policy and Planning
Council of Tourism Associations
604.685-5996
plarose@cotabc.com