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Study helps outdoor tour operators find their voice in the wilderness

Resolution in land tenure, land-use issues bringing stability to $1.4-billion tourism sector

Tracy Tjaden

After years of being pushed around by forestry, mining and environmental heavyweights locked in a power struggle over B.C.'s back country, wilderness tourism operators are making their voices heard.

"Wilderness tourism is the magnet," said Sylvia Waterer, part-owner of Chilcotin Holidays, a company that operates a guest ranch two hours north of Whistler and runs horse-pack, hiking and grizzly-bear-watching outings. "Before it was all Vancouver and Whistler, but now the province is aware of the fact it's the super-natural people go for."

Last month marked the release of the inaugural study measuring the size and economic impact of nature-based tourism in B.C.

The industry, which includes everything from hunting to heli-skiing to bird watching, accounts for about $1.4 billion of B.C.'s overall tourism revenues of $9.4 billion.

By placing a value on the sector, the study gives fresh clout to the isolated elements of the industry that operate in remote parts of B.C.

Wilderness tourism operators are also gaining new respect thanks to a push by the province to ensure all operators have the proper permits to run their businesses on Crown land.

Land tenure provides business certainty, which makes it easier to secure financing for expansions and ongoing operations. It also gives the companies a formal voice in such local and provincial land-use issues as setting aside new parkland, expanding mining or forestry operations or settling First Nations' treaties.

"It gives people credibility in land-use planning issues and allows them to come to the table as a bona fide operator," added Dave Butler, director of land resources for heli-ski tour company Canadian Mountain Holidays.

Last April, the government announced a plan to kick-start the land tenure process, which has been dragging on for years.

The cost of securing land tenure can run from $500 a year for bird watching in a remote area to over $50,000 for a heli-skiing operation near Whistler, said John Willow, director of tourism for Land and Water BC. It's based on tourist traffic and land value.

Some wilderness tour operators had tenures and were paying the proper fees to the province. Others had the wrong permit for the type of activity they were running. Still others shunned the process altogether, claiming it was too costly and that it didn't mattered whether they had the proper permit.

Before the latest government tenure push, Willow said about 40 per cent of wilderness tour operators in B.C. had the proper tenure. That number is now up to 60 per cent. The provincial agency can shut down operators who don't submit a tenure application. Willow said four new enforcement officers have been hired in the agency's regional branches.

The industry and government plan to meet later this month to discuss one of the process's most controversial issues: overlapping land use and setting activity levels to avoid degrading the environment.

"It's a bone of contention," said Brian Gunn, president of the Wilderness Tourism Association of B.C. and a marketing consultant for Strathcona Park Lodge near Campbell River. "Existing people that made investments worry about spoiling the experience of their business and overcrowding."

The viability of their businesses depends on a pristine, sustainable environment, said Waterer.

The industry study, released by Tourism BC, identified 2,200 wilderness tourism businesses in the province.

In 2001, B.C.'s wilderness tourism industry employed 20,700 people, who earned $556 million in wages, salaries and benefits.

Tracy Tjaden

Reporter

Business in Vancouver Newspaper