SHUSWAP TOURISM ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES

Note: The following minutes are subject to correction when endorsed by the Committee at its next meeting.

Meeting #:
Date:	Thursday, December 07, 2017
Time:	1:00 P.m. - 2:00 P.m.
Location:	CSRD Boardroom 555 Harbourfront Drive NE, Salmon Arm

Committee Members Present

• D. Lepsoe (Chair), Councillor, Village of Chase
• P. Demenok, Director Area 'C'
• T. Rysz, Mayor, District of Sicamous
• K. Flynn, Councillor, City of Salmon Arm
• R. Talbot, Director Area 'D'
• L. Morgan, Director Area 'F'
• M. Lane, Dreamcycle Motorcycle Museum
• P. McIntyre-Paul, Shuswap Trail Alliance
• J. Ziercke, Quaaout Lodge Resort & Spa/Talking Rock Golf
• K. Brown , Arts Council for the South Shuswap

Committee Members Absent

• G. Bushell, The Eagle Valley Snowmobile Club
• R. Martin, Director, Electoral Area 'E'
• S. Hofstetter, Prestige Hotels
• A. Maki, Chase & District Chamber of Commerce

Staff Present

• R. Cyr, Economic Development Officer
• S. Goodey, Tourism Clerical Assistant
• E. Johnson, Electronic Records Management Facilitator

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1.

Call to Order

The Chair called the meeting to order at 1:07 PM.

1.1

Approval of Agenda

• Motion
  Moved By P. Demenok
  Seconded By K. Brown

  THAT: the agenda of the December 7, 2017, Shuswap Tourism Advisory Committee meeting be approved with the removal of item 2.

  
  CARRIED

1.2

Adoption of Minutes

• Motion
  Moved By J. Ziercke
  Seconded By P. Demenok

  THAT: the minutes of the September 7, 2017,  Shuswap Tourism Advisory Committee meeting be adopted as circulated.

  
  CARRIED

1.3

Guest(s) in Attendance

David Gonella - Roots & Blues

Carmen Massey - REACH Marketing

David Barrett - Columbia Shuswap Film Commission

Rob Marshall - Community Futures Shuswap

Jay Simpson - North Shuswap Chamber of Commerce

3.

1:45-2:15 pm Presentation – David Gonella – Roots & Blues 2017

David Gonella, the Executive Director of the Salmon Arm Roots & Blues Festival, gave a presentation to the committee. The Roots & Blues had a good year in 2017 with 27,000 festival attendees. D. Gonella outlined the work that went into the festival and gave a bit of background on the festival’s historical performance. The committee expressed interest in the annual attendance rates and asked questions about why certain years had better attendance than others. D. Gonella explained the changes that they had made to the festival to bring it back to its original vision and that had assisted in the increase in attendance.

D. Gonella answered questions from the committee about the demographic of festival attendees and how the Roots & Blues is using that data in its marketing efforts. The presentation has been attached to the HTML copy of these minutes.

 

4.

Discussion Items

4.1

Update on current marketing activities - Carmen Massey

Carmen Massey of REACH Marketing presented the committee with an update of the current Shuswap Tourism Marketing initiatives. REACH Marketing is assisting Shuswap Tourism on a variety of projects and C. Massey provided the following status updates:

• Vacation Planners
• For the year to date, Shuswap Tourism has 93 participants and has had $46,344 in sales.
   
• Media Tours
• The Mountain Biking Tourism Association (MTBA) highlighted the Shuswap in a recent “Bikes and Beer” tour.
• Shuswap Tourism got to take Anthony Dennis on a familiarization (fam) tour. A. Dennis has had an influential role at the Sydney Morning Herald in Australia in travel and tourism. A. Dennis appreciated the genuine cultural experience.
• Destination BC hosted a Mega Familiarization tour with, 23 attendees from Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico, India, and Australia.
   
• Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association’s (TOTA) Itinerary Project
• C. Massey met with the blog writer for TOTA. The blog writer was looking for more content from the Shuswap and Shuswap Tourism has provided several travel itineraries that have been subsequently posted on Route 97.
• Monthly blog rollout plan, based on 14 Shuswap Itineraries
• The first one to be showcased is "Stroll into Winter the Shuswap Way" and the blog is now live on the Route 97 website.
• https://route97.net/stroll-into-winter-the-shuswap-way
   
• Industry Support
• C. Massey touched on the support that Shuswap Tourism has received from the Tourism industry in the Shuswap for media and familiarization tours and highlighted some of the businesses that have provided particularly special experiences for guests on familiarization/media tours.
  
  C. Massey also provided an overview of involvement in coordinating meetings to bring together businesses sectors. i.e. golf courses, wineries, marinas. C. Massey highlighted some of the outcomes which are that the marinas are now considering working together on cooperative marketing projects and have co-purchased an advertisement in the vacation planner that highlights the marinas.
  
  Below are some points from her presentation:
   
• Mountain Bike: MBTA Symposium, Fam support
• Food/Farm:  Turtle Valley Bison Ranch Dinner on the Farm
• Aboriginal Tourism:  STS Lakes Division Tourism Strategy, Quaaout Lodge and Resort Media Tourism
• Wine:  Industry meeting, wine region presentation
• Golf:  Industry meeting, working group for 2018 plans, ongoing support
• Marinas:  Industry meeting, working group meeting in December, new group ad.
• Trails:  MBTA Symposium, guide development, Roundtable
• Snowmobile:  Edmonton show, Saskatoon, Vernon, Salmon Arm show support, new map, banners.
• Nordic:  Nordic Ski/Snowshoe map in 2000 Cross Country provincial ski magazine.

 

4.2

Shuswap Trails Update - Phil McIntyre-Paul, Shuswap Trail Alliance

Phil McIntyre-Paul gave the committee a brief update on the work that the Shuswap Trail Alliance has worked on in 2017.

The Shuswap Trails Roundtable was held on November 29, 2017 in the Chase Community Hall.  Seventy people from Secwepemc, local and provincial governments, along with trail user groups, environmental stewardship, industry, business, economic development, tourism, invasive species and health organizations gathered for this third annual meeting.

The objectives for the meeting were as follows:

• To provide an update on progress of the Shuswap Regional Trails Strategy this year.
• To seek feedback on priorities for the Shuswap Regional Trails Strategy for next year, and endorse the annual work plan
• Convene all trail user groups, build relationships, and share information.

The provincial recreation sites and trails, who assisted with funding to develop the Shuswap Trails strategy is interested in providing further funding to maintain the work of the Shuswap Roundtable and the Shuswap Trails Strategy.  The Shuswap Trail Alliance will continue the conversation with the province to continue the work of the Shuswap Trail Strategy.

The Shuswap Trail Alliance wants to see more discussion on the First Nations involvement and up to date provincial land management.

The Shuswap Trail Alliance has been working with the Columbia Shuswap Regional District and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to continue the discussion on planning for parallel pathways adjacent to roads.

 

4.11

Highways general discussion

• Motion
  Moved By K. Flynn
  Seconded By T. Rysz

  Recommendation to the Columbia Shuswap Regional District Board:

  THAT: the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD) Board make a resolution to send to the Southern Interior Local Government Association a request that the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure incorporate active transportation corridors into all current and future highway projects;

  AND THAT: the Chair of the CSRD Board write a letter to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to request that the said Ministry consider the incorporation of active transportation corridors into all current and future highway projects.

  
  CARRIED

  T. Rysz left the meeting at 2:58 pm.

   

4.3

Trail Guide Update

The Shuswap Trail Alliance has been working with the CSRD’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) department to put the trails that are in the guide online. Shuswap Tourism is reducing their number of printed collateral as marketing moves to using more digital and online formats.  Print is expensive and our website guide downloads are definitely showing that more people are downloading guides rather than using print.  Guides are downloaded for review and then only information that they require, such as maps, can be printed for use. Also these trail maps can be downloaded so that you have trail information when you are on the trails, on your phone or tablet.

Director Demenok addressed the committee to share his concerns about the dangers associated with the sharing of roads between cyclists and vehicles and requested a public service ad in the trail guide encouraging people to share the road. There is already a message in the trail guide about this but we will put it in a more prominent position in the trail guide so that it is more visible to all trail users.

The committee proposed that a recommendation to the Board to help address this issue may be more effective as the Board could request signage for the roads from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.

• Motion
  Moved By P. Demenok
  Seconded By K. Flynn

  Recommendation to the Columbia Shuswap Regional District Board:

  THAT: the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD) Board support a letter from the Chair of the CSRD Board to the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure requesting “share the road signage” on all cycling routes.

  
  

  For (8)	D. Lepsoe, P. Demenok, K. Flynn, L. Morgan, M. Lane, P. McIntyre-Paul, J. Ziercke, and K. Brown
  Opposed (1)	R. Talbot

  
  CARRIED (8 to 1)

4.5

Columbia Shuswap Film Commission update - David Barritt

Director Talbot, K. Brown, Director Morgan and Director Demenok left the meeting at 3:18 pm.

David Barritt gave the committee an update on the current Columbia Shuswap Film Commission (CSFC) work. Film production develops a positive economic boost for our region. There has been a Hallmark production in Revelstoke in March that was in the community for 10 days with a production crew of 50-75 people. The City of Revelstoke enjoyed economic benefits to the community from the film crew purchasing accommodation, meals and other items for the 10 days that they were in the community.

D. Barritt stated that the film industry in Canada is starting to choose Vancouver as its western Canadian hub. Film producers like Universal Studios, Netflix, Sony, Apple, Warner Brothers, Hallmark, Disney, etc. have either have set up studios in Vancouver or are looking to in the near future. D. Barritt also stated that a new film production studio has opened in Kelowna called Eagle Creek Studio. With the studio in Kelowna, it will be easier for crews to shoot in the CSFC area as it is near the studio and so they will be able to use the CSFC landscapes for their scenes within the region.

D. Barritt noted changes in the film industry that we would be embracing and will help us to develop film activity in the region. These changes include a move to vloggers (video bloggers) where anyone can now create content. When a video on YouTube has a large following, film producers try to tap into that following by helping the vlogger to produce content. This also means that content is getting shorter in the viewing time. One example of a vlogger in our area was Gumboot Kids. This is a CBC show written for children aged 2-5 that produces five minute content. They produced an episode in the Roderick Haig Brown Park and at the Turtle Valley Bison Ranch.

D. Barritt also stressed on the importance of showcasing our region with film producers. The Hallmark producers who produced a film in Revelstoke would like to come back due to the professional services that they received in the CSFC region. Once the film producer sees our region first hand, they are more likely to think of it when they are considering locations to film. D. Barritt is working on familiarization tours with film producers to bring them to our region to consider the Columbia Shuswap as an area for future filming.

K. Brown, Director Morgan, Director Demenok returned to the meeting at 3:45 pm.

The committee thanked D. Barritt for his presentation and for his work with the Film Commission.

 

4.6

Implementation of the Shuswap Tourism Strategy- “Experience Workshop” overview

On November 16th, 2017 Destination Think led an "Experience Workshop" for our businesses and community stakeholders.  The intention of the workshop was to gather information that would provide Destination Think and Shuswap Tourism with strategic direction for the marketing initiatives for the next 3-5 year.

The workshop was a great success and there was good representation from various industry sectors. Shuswap Tourism will be working with Destination Think to complete the strategy. Completion of the strategy is expected early in 2018.

 

4.7

Meeting Attendance

R. Cyr has attended a variety of workshops, summits and meetings that are helping Shuswap Tourism to better understand the tourism industry. These include:

• Mountain Bike Tourism Association (MBTA) Symposium – Revelstoke
• Thompson-Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) Summit
• BC Fishing Symposium – Kamloops – Overview
• Destination BC’s Destination Development Meeting – Hwy 1 Corridor

4.8

Destination BC (DBC) Application

Shuswap Tourism has submitting a funding application to Destination BC (DBC) for the cooperative marketing program funding. The grant application request for 2018 is $115,000.00.  Shuswap Tourism will be also contributing $115,000.00 from the Shuswap Tourism annual marketing budget. This is a significant increase in funding from 2017. The marketing campaigns from this project will have a focus on winter with added campaigns also for spring and fall.

 

4.9

Tourism Sector Meetings

Over the last month Shuswap Tourism has set up meetings with three tourism industry business providers. Meetings were held with local wineries, golf courses, and marinas. The intention of these meetings has been to collaborate with the industry sectors on marketing initiative’s and issues affecting their industry sector. The meetings have been successful in getting the industry sectors to work together with Shuswap Tourism just facilitating the meetings and providing support

Some of these groups have never worked together before and they realized that they have similar values and issues. The meetings were very successful

.

 

4.10

Regional Signage – Request in Rural Dividend Application

R. Cyr spoke about the Rural Dividend application that is being submitted on December 15, 2017. One of the requests that has been submitted is for entrance signage to identify the Shuswap region. This project has been a priority for a number of years for Shuswap Tourism but DBC does not provide infrastructure costs so this was a good opportunity to complete these signs through the Rural Dividend program funding.  R. Cyr has spoken with the community of Chase and they are interested in partnering with Shuswap Tourism to complete a sign on Highway 1 just outside of Chase. There is also interest from the North Shuswap Chamber of Commerce to put a sign at the Squilax Anglemont Bridge which will guide visitors to the North Shuswap. There would also be signage at the far side of the Shuswap region, adjacent to Three Valley Gap. This signage will identify the Shuswap region to visitors.  Electoral area and community signage will also be a project that will be identified in future funding.  The signage would be similar to the signs that have been installed by the North Shuswap.

 

6.

Adjournment

• Motion
  Moved By P. Demenok
  Seconded By K. Brown

  THAT: the December 7, 2017 Shuswap Tourism Advisory Committee meeting be adjourned.

  
  CARRIED