MOVING FORWARD
HERE'S THE PLAN
Hello and if we haven't connected before, Happy New Year!
Please find in this email a link to the new draft Tourism Plan for the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast region, for your review and comments.
For those of you who want to "jump to the chase" and read the 'Top 10' pages:
- Objectives are on page 35;
- Priority Actions start on page 38; and
- End with a roll-up of the Budget on page 47.
It is believed this plan (in addition to our regular ongoing plans) is critically needed to make a significant difference to the tourism industry in our region. Over 140 people input into the development of the attached document. Overall, there was lots of great ideas and the Tourism Plan has been written by Susan Rybar of Vardo Creative to incorporate your thoughts and ideas.
You may have heard that we have been spending time working with accommodation operators over the last few months on the potential implementation of an additional hotel tax (MRDT). The MRDT is one of the funding sources recommended to help generate the funds needed to execute this plan. But my efforts do not sit with MRDT alone, I have been lobbying government (and will continue to do so) for increased resources and support for our rural region. We have been working with a diverse group of funding partners to look at opportunities for new dollars to support new tactics aimed at revitalizing our tourism industry.
Bottom line we need to bring more people here! I believe that there are significant untapped opportunities before us in the Cariboo, Chilcotin and Central Coast and while the road may not be an easy one, neither was the road for those before us. We now have a new tourism plan and I know that with faith and hard work we will create an improved future for our businesses, communities and region!
One last note - this plan is different than the CCCTA ongoing plans - in that funds do not have to be spent within the confines of Destination BC program guidelines, which means some of your great ideas could be added that could not be supported before. We encourage you to read the plan and call or email if you have any questions or have further ideas that should be included. We look forward to hearing your thoughts. Here is a direct link to the plan: http://bit.ly/1cDRdLz
If you have any questions on the
Tourism Plan and / or the MRDT, please contact Amy Thacker at
amy@landwithoutlimits.com or
1-800-663-5885 or Susan Rybar at
susan@vardocreative.com or
250-704-4904.
Kindest regards,
Amy Thacker
CEO Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association
