A recipe for cultural tourism created
By Nelson Daily Editor
By Timothy Schafer, The Nelson Daily
Why anyone would choose to visit the West Kootenay is obvious to those that live here.
But making it obvious to those outside of the Kootenay confines is a curious kettle of questions. According to a new report, the Cultural Tourism Strategy, commissioned by the City, the Village of Kaslo and regional district areas D, E and F, the recipe has been created.
Take one part existing culture, add in collaborative scheduling of events and marketing, sprinkle in a dash of artisan studio tours with shoulder season packages, and bake with some support for emerging cultural businesses, and you have a cultural tourism meal unlike anything the area has ever enjoyed.
People already come to the area and engage in cultural tourism, said the City’s cultural development officer, Joy Barrett, through a personal connection — visiting friends or family, or coming on a recommendation.
But the strategy report is expected to enhance and grow the appetite for local culture — visual art, media arts, performing art, cultural art and cultural heritage — for visitors coming from other parts of the province, Alberta, Europe, other parts of Canada and Washington state.
Although some West Kootenay folk interviewed for the report believed the area had all it needed to increase the number of cultural tourists, Barrett said others felt the bar of professionalism needed to be raised in order to attract visitors who do not have a personal connection to the region.
In Nelson, a lack of a “signature event” at any time of the year was a huge hurdle in trying to attract new visitors. Although there are some smaller scale events, they are focused on meeting the needs of the locals and not visitors, the report stated.
“There may be insufficient capacity to create and sustain a larger ‘signature event’ without impacting the smaller, locally focused events, as the pool of volunteers and the ability of local businesses to support them is limited,” the report stated.
There was also a question of the commitment of the municipal governments if “the underground culture and economy rise to the surface, and policies around dogs or parking” become an issue for some visitors.
The strategy did lay down several deliverable items — to be handled through a newly struck steering committee to advise the Nelson and Kootenay Lake destination marketing organization (DMO).
The short-term priorities of the committee include collaborative scheduling, coordinating the scheduling of cultural events — beyond just festival events — to minimize scheduling conflicts.
This would foster the sharing of regional resources, said the report, like volunteers.
“And this would encourage tourists to stay in the region longer by offering a well-coordinated tour of cultural events throughout the region,” said Barrett.
This scheduling should be done by spring of 2011.
Also in the collaborative vein in the realm of short-term priorities was collaborative marketing, creating a comprehensive web-base marketing vehicle so visitors could plan trips to the area that would include cultural tourism opportunities.
That effort has already begun, said Barrett, with the initial meeting of the DMO and potential participants to explore how this would be done.
Also mentioned in the short term was creating an artisans studio tour — expanding on the Columbia Basin Cultural Tour — and creating shoulder season getaway packages. Support for emerging arts, heritage and culture businesses was also deemed a priority.
A total of 30 interviews of people or organizations were done, mostly by phone. Three community discussions were held, two in Nelson and one in Kaslo. Around 36 people attended those discussions.
Who are we?
Most people seemed comfortable with the statement “We are a small town, mountain culture.”
Although people felt the West Kootenay was part of a clean and safe country, the illegal, underground economy was acknowledged as being a significant component of the local economy and culture, which could also threaten the notion of a clean and safe experience.
The overall culture was defined as: the arts and heritage; the natural beauty; a vibrant mix of people; a strong commitment and entrepreneurial spirit required for people to live here, given the considerable distances from large urban centres.
For some, the West Kootenay culture was defined by what is not present, such as a lack of mass tourism. However, the array of cultural experiences was considered to be more extensive than many towns the size of Nelson or Kaslo.
The level of professionalism and quality of visitor amenities reflected the small town culture, leading some to characterize the area as “funky, folksy, colourful and quaintly amateur.”
About 12 per cent of the requests for community specific information related to the arts and culture opportunities in the city, compared to 14 per cent for adventure sports activities.
Source: Cultural Tourism Strategy
