Innovative Practices - Partnership
- Out of the Box and Quaaout Resort and Conference Centre
You will find the Quaaout Resort & Conference Centre located between Chase and Sorrento on the shores of Little Shuswap Lake. The resort is owned by the Little Shuswap Band and offers a unique insight into the First Nations people and now has added the sport of Mountain Biking to the activities available there.
- Revelstoke Railway Days
The town of Revelstoke is fast becoming a tourist destination area. Over the last few years the 8,000 resident town has been placing a greater economic focus on the tourism industry, which is exemplified and driven by the region’s commitment to develop the Revelstoke Mountain Resort. Among the town’s primary tourist attractions is the Revelstoke Railway Museum, opened in 1994 and operated by the Revelstoke Heritage Railway Society.
- St Eugene Mission
St Euguene Mission is a success story in Aboriginal tourism development. Collectively, the partnership came together around a common goal and turned their vision into a reality that provides a broad array of visitor experiences to visitors in the Kootenay Rockies region of BC.
The resort has become a strong economic force in the region and to date 25% of the 250 workforce are of First Nations decent including some who were students at the Mission. Golf Digest rated the golf course in the top 10 in 2001, which has brought even more focus to the area.
- Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC
The Freshwater Fisheries Society has been very successful in a very short time by developing key partnerships which have resulted in increased programs and an expansion of the typical angling market. The staff of the society recognized the tourism connection to freshwater fishing and consequently partnered with the appropriate tourism members, both private and provincial. Some of these key partners include the Ministry of Tourism, Sports, and Arts, Tourism BC, BC Parks, ACT Now BC, Habitat Conservation Trust Fund, and several Chamber of Commerce organizations.
- Quesnel Museum: Pioneering Partnerships
Forming partnerships between two different cultures provides many challenges. Customs and beliefs of other cultures can be very different and be a source of potential conflict. In order to properly showcase First Nations culture, it was very important for the Quesnel Museum to include the Carrier Nation’s participation in the creation of the exhibit. The Carrier Nation recognized that forming a partnership with the museum would provide a contact point for education and representation of their rich culture and history.
- Horne Lake Caves and Teepee Adventure Camp
The Horne Lake Caverns and Teepee Adventure Center is innovative in that it collaborates effectively with different levels of government. The different groups come together to form what owner Richard Varela calls a “true symbiosis”. B.C. Parks provides access to the caving system which is managed by private business. The local regional district owns the land directly next to the park and provides a campground for visitors which is also maintained and managed by the same private business.
- Tourism Knowledge Cluster
By now most Canadians are aware that the country is facing a significant labour shortage. This shortage is already affecting the tourism industry, and the forecast remains bleak by many analysts' standards. The Tourism Knowledge Cluster (TKC) project began in 2005 and is working with tourism industry stakeholders in the East Kootenay region to counteract the industry's problems such as human resources. Its goal is to turn industry "challenges into solutions."
- Kitselas Canyon Historic Park
For the last 11,000 years, the Gitselasu people have been living on the banks of the Skeena River in the Kitselas Canyon. Located 15 kilometers east of Terrace, the Canyon was declared a National Historic Site in 1972. When fishing resources began to dwindle, the band looked to tourism as a way to rejuvenate their economy. In 2001 the Gitselasu people decided to develop an attraction at this cultural site that would showcase their unique identity to visitors. As the tourism coordinator for the site, Web Bennett of the Kitselas Development Corporation (KDC) has a vision for the site that seeks to fuse many tourism products with historic values of his people. His vision is to have the Kitselas Canyon National Historic Site become a premier destination for cultural tourism in Northwestern British Columbia.
INNOVATIVE PRACTICE - DOWNLOAD HERE
- Strathcona Park Trail Access Initiative
Mostly wilderness area, there are few developments and only a few places where visitors can access trails or routes to travel into the park. Access to the beautiful sub-alpine area of Paradise Meadows, located on the edge of the park, near Mount Washington Alpine Resort was a challenge for limited mobility park users and those with young families due to rough terrain and limited parking.
The Paradise Meadows area needed a trail that was accessible by the young and old, families with strollers and the disabled. Recent changes to the highway structure around the park's entrance created disjointed flow of pedestrian traffic and vehicle parking there needed to be an access point to the meadows from nearer the newly expanded parking areas near the resort's Raven Lodge, but with no new capital projects in the park for the previous 12 years, finding the funding to create this new mobility-friendly entrance to the park was going to be a challenge.
INNOVATIVE PRACTICE - DOWNLOAD HERE
