Oct 26, 2006 | Industry, Uncategorized
Since January of 2006 a working group comprised of various stakeholders with an interest in the issues surrounding mountain biking on crown land in British Columbia have met several times with staff from the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts. The mandate of the group was to come up with a policy that would address the key issues and identify a process that would allow for mountain bike trails to become authorized under a consistent policy framework by the province. On October 26th a draft policy was released along with a background document detailing the key issues and objectives, the main policy features and the process undertaken to create the policy. The issues include trail location, unsafe structures, and user and resource conflicts. The objectives reflect the desire to allow mountain biking to continue on crown land using improved management practices and to support economic opportunities for tourism. The draft policy will be implemented on a pilot basis with several communities around the province over the next two years. The pilot communities identified are: Squamish, Chilliwack, Burns Lake, Terrace, Nelson, Invermere, Kamloops and Williams Lake. Click here to view the current operational policy document (updated May...
Sep 29, 2006 | Industry, Partners, Uncategorized
The vision of the Sea to Sky Trail is the creation of a multi-use trail connecting the communities of Pemberton, Whistler and Squamish. After years of discussion among community partners plans are taking shape. The project is huge in terms of trail construction. The cost for the trail is expected to average about $20,000 per kilometre over the planned 190 kilometre route with potential funding coming from the private and public sectors. The Sea to Sky Trail will offer many benefits in the corridor including fostering environmental stewardship through exposure, and ecological educational opportunities, social benefits such as health and safety by offering an alternative transportation route that links communities while avoiding the highway and economic benefits related to tourism. Draft Sea to Sky Trail Maps can be found on the Squamish Lilloet Regional District website at...
Jun 1, 2006 | Industry, MBTA Initiatives, Uncategorized
North Vancouver, BC June 1, 2006 – The Mountain Bike Tourism Association, in cooperation with community partners and the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts announced the launch of a study to measure the economic impact of mountain biking in the Sea to Sky Corridor. Spending data will be gathered from mountain bikers on the North Shore and in Squamish and Whistler from June-September. The data will be used to generate an estimate of economic impact at the community level as well as for the Corridor as a whole. There is a particular emphasis on tourism impacts generated by destination mountain bikers. Quantifying the economic impact of mountain biking will demonstrate the value of the trails and help trail management groups in their efforts to create, maintain, and upgrade trails. The study is being designed by Tony Fisher, Senior Research Consultant at the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance. Spending data gathered from mountain bikers will be extrapolated into CSTA’s newly developed STEAM-Pro Model, which builds on the success of the CSTA’s Sport Tourism Economic Assessment Model (STEAM), by allowing the direct entry of tourist expenditure survey results to provide consistent and credible economic impact estimates of a sporting event on both the provincial and community level. Fisher has conducted similar economic impact assessments across Canada including the World Junior Hockey Championships held in Vancouver, Kelowna and Kamloops in 2006 and the UCI 2003 Road World Cycling Championships held in Hamilton. Fisher utilizes the Entryware-Pro system developed by Techneos Systems Inc., a Vancouver-based supplier of software for mobile survey automation. Richard Walton, Mayor of North Vancouver District, and co-founder of...
