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Dissolution of Tourism BC
As you will all know by now, the B.C. government, in there wisdom, decided to fold the crown corporation of Tourism BC effective April 1, 2010 and assume the organization in the Ministry of Tourism Culture and the Arts. The sudden news of the BC Government's move to dissolve Tourism British Columbia came as a shock to the WTA.
Tourism BC was an award winning organization, which had developed a world-class destination marketing model that was the envy of the world. But, Rod Harris, the current CEO of Tourism BC was relieved of his duties along with the current Board of Directors. An Advisory Council, accountable to the Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, will be appointed to take over from the independent Board of Directors. Tourism BC staff have been told that they will remain in place until April 1, 2010 at which time they will be integrated into the Ministry.
This move could be very detrimental to BC's over-all marketing effort and have a further negative impact on our current economic contribution to the province. While government is making claims that this move will save money, which can be re-invested in BC's regions, and that it will increase efficiency and better target marketing resources, this will need to be proved. The Ministry of Tourism doesn't have a track record for this type of major marketing effort.
We are particularly concerned about government's tampering with Tourism BC at this point in time with the Olympic games soon upon us and coming out of the recent economic downturn. What we are in dire need of is stability.
The WTA sent a letter to Premier Campbell and Tourism Minister Kevin Krueger outlining our concerns about this move and recommendations for moving forward. We have also been working with COTA to organize an industry response. COTA resolutions have been passed indicating that any re-organization of tourism marketing for the province needs to be independent from government and led by industry, and will need performance based funding.
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Harmonized Sales Tax (HST)
The B.C. government plans to adopt a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), merging GST and PST for a 12% tax July 1 2010.
Currently most tourism services are exempt from PST and a move to HST will most definitely have an impact on our industry and on our current economic contribution to the province. A 7% increase will be very apparent in the extremely competitive market for our products and services. At a time when travel consumers have less disposable income and are looking for value our traditional and potential customers will be looking to other domestic and international destinations, which have similar product, but which do not have similar taxes. Even when we factor the portion of the HST that can be reclaimed by businesses through input tax credits this tax will still mean a significant net increase for our consumers. A significant portion of the costs in developing and operating tourism products and services are not currently subject to embedded PST/HST (labour, food, fuel, etc.). It is expected that at a minimum our customers will have to pay 4% more for their tourism purchases and in many cases it will be close to the full 7%.
WTA has written to government explaining our issues and concerns with the HST as well as participated in several meetings and planning the tourism industry response. We have also been working with COTA and other tourism stakeholders to develop credible business arguments with supporting business cases for the impacts of the HST.
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Horse use in Strathcona Park
News of the BC Government's decision to amend Strathcona Park's Master Plan, and allow more horse use in the park, was greeted positively by BC's nature based tourism industry. "We supported the idea of managed horse use in the park and the process used to determine that," said Brian Gunn, President of the BC Wilderness Tourism Association (WTA).
"The current Park Master Plan was not entirely clear about exactly where horse use would or would not be permitted causing some confusion and strong differing opinions by stakeholder groups," said Gunn. "Following extensive public and stakeholder consultations including First Nations, and analysis by environmental consultants, the Environment Minister decided to amend the Master Plan to allow restricted horse use on old road beds and their associated corridors. Many of these were old mining/logging roads before they were incorporated into the park boundary." According to the ministry, if all such road beds were to be used for horse trails, the horse trails would occupy about eight hectares, or less than .004 per cent of the 264,000 hectare park. Traveling on foot will continue to be the only way one can experience the wilderness in the vast majority of Strathcona Provincial Park, as envisioned in the Master Plan.
This decision has raised the ire of local environmental groups and some park advocates who are opposed to the perceived privatization or commercialism in parks, and potential impacts from horse use. "Clearly some recreational activities are acceptable in protected areas, whereas others are not" said Gunn. "It is critical that management policies are developed, which outline the criteria used to evaluate the acceptability of activities. This decision will allow Parks staff to do exactly that." The master plan will be updated to provide greater clarity regarding areas in the park where horse use will be considered. Park use permits will still be required before using horses in Strathcona Park and applications would have to be consistent with the Master Plan direction, and meet or exceed BC Parks standards and expectations for minimizing impacts to the environment.
On the issue of the perceived 'privatizing' of our parks, Evan Loveless, Executive Director of the WTA, said, "such opponents don't understand the role of commercial tourism operators in our parks. Commercial operators act as park stewards and facilitators for public use of parks and consequently are engaged in activities to conserve resources, enhance ecosystem integrity and health, improve trails and access, educate visitors and manage visitor activities, and generally help people experience parks in an environmentally friendly way that otherwise can't or choose not to on their own."
"Travel to experience protected areas has been an integral part of park operations for a very long time," said Loveless. "Often, a high quality natural or cultural environment is the main attraction that draws the visitors to the area and to select tourism products. Thus the tourism industry is intimately connected to the protection of natural and cultural areas as depicted in BC Parks. Tourism companies fully understand the importance of maintaining a high quality environment to their economic success, and are continually developing environmental policies and stewardship practices and funding conservation programs so that both can be sustained. Tourism can be a crucial element for the long-term survival of the environmental and cultural resources upon which our parks system depends."
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Renewable energy planning in BC.
Despite WTA's support for green, renewable energy we are very concerned about the manner in which the development of new renewable energy generation has been occurring in recent years within B.C. Wilderness tourism depends on scarce natural resources and these are more and more becoming in conflict with energy development projects (i.e. IPPs). Our province's rivers, watersheds, coastlines and alpine areas are extremely valuable for tourism. These areas support world-class tourism and recreational use and most all of these areas have tourism and recreational activities that are currently enjoyed and pursued throughout BC. These areas are also major wildlife viewing areas, and the potential impacts of these energy development projects on those wildlife and recreation activities are potentially huge.
Key among our concerns is that the development of new power generation in B.C. has proceeded in the absence of a strategic assessment where these new power generation facilities (e.g. run of river and/or small hydro plants built by independent power producers (IPPs) should, and should not, be located. This has led to concerns that:
· IPPs are being proposed for sites that are clearly not appropriate; and that
· The cumulative environmental impact of multiple IPPs in a geographic area has not
been sufficiently considered.
There an urgent need for a long-term strategy for the development of new or renewable energy in B.C. that ensures the best renewable energy opportunities are developed at the lowest cost to the environment and the lowest risk to BC rate payers. Such a strategy would address outstanding issues and questions regarding, provincial energy generation potential, domestic electricity demand, inter-jurisdictional trade (import and export of electricity), and transmission requirements.
The initial step of an energy strategy is a rigorous, science-based and publicly-transparent strategic assessment of where new power generation plants should - and should not - be located. A crucial prerequisite to conduct a strategic assessment of this nature is to conduct a broadly- scoped and unbiased assessment of the total potential of renewable energy resources within British Columbia - a transparent and credible process where stakeholders could have confidence in the results of the assessment process. Phase one of the Western Renewable Energy Zones (WREZ) initiative can achieve this but it needs to be revisited.
We understand that several rivers, watersheds, tidal rapids, coastlines and alpine ridgelines have investigative permits and/or water licenses issued in anticipation of IPPs being developed. Currently, all IPP projects are assessed for environmental, social and economic impacts and benefits in isolation of each other and on their individual and specific merits. Such an approach will not maximize renewable energy opportunities while at the same time minimizing the risk to the environment and the public. Some locations may be relatively benign and will make perfect sense and these sites should be embraced. At the same time there are sites where an IPP project is clearly inappropriate.
A long-term strategy for the development of new or renewable energy which addresses provincial energy generation potential, domestic electricity demand, inter-jurisdictional trade (import and export of electricity), and transmission options and requirements is the best approach. A strategy should uphold the precautionary principle, involve all interested stakeholders, and respect aboriginal rights and title. Power developments must be in the interests of the people of B.C., and minimize public risk. A energy strategy must also be coordinated with the reforming of the current water licensing and Crown Land leasing system for power development, and improving environmental protection regulations (e.g., for cumulative impacts and minimum ecosystem flows) and increasing resources for monitoring and enforcement.
We believe that in conjunction with the section 5 Inquiry that the British Columbia Utilities Commission has currently underway, a long-term strategy for the development of new or renewable energy has considerable potential to address B.C.'s existing gap in effective energy governance. We are putting pressure on government to develop such a strategy.
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Bewildinbc.com
WTA is redeveloping the bewildinbc website to become a consumer travel site for WTA members. Bewildinbc.com will act as an online travel magazine with feature articles and destinations, member search engine and a travel blog. Members will be able to advertise on the site to increase their exposure. We hope to have the new site up and running soon. We may or may not be publishing a hard copy of the Be Wild in BC magazine this fall depending on member interest and advertising revenue.
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Wilderness Tourism Association - "Ensuring a sustainable future for BC's wilderness tourism industry through leadership, advocacy, and education." Visit our website for more information on who we are and what we do.
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