More planning. When will the results show.
Cheers

Planning is necessary, especially when it comes to tourism development. Without it, communities tend to make rash tourism decisions and the "ugly" impacts of tourism generally follow.

Until recently, Tourism PG was overshadowed by Initiatives PG and they were not able to fully flourish or explore the option of tourism as a way of economic diversification within Prince George. It is great to hear about this tourism plan, as it insinuates that TPG is be moving ahead as an independent group to embrace the tourism opportunities for within this area.

PG is a rest stop on the way to Alaska.

It won't be a destination unless there's something unique to draw visitors. We have forests, mountains, and lakes but there are lots of similar places closer to major centres like Vancouver to draw tourists.

Oh well, I guess that hotel tax has to be spent somehow.

Bang on MrPG.

Cottonwood Island, Railroad Museum, two rivers--- Ideal place for an Up Scale R.V. Park. Add a pitch and putt, riverside docks, boat launch, concessions,shuttle to downtown etc. Now, we have got something to attract and hold travellers. Right now they stay overnight in the Wally Wallmart parking lot and in the morning--GONE. If we are going to get into the business,then lets do it right with style and class. IMO P.G. at this time, has nothing much to offer the traveller. We are situated on two great rivers--- Lets make use of them. The casino should have been built there. Big mistake, would have been great.

Prince George will NEVER be a tourism destination. They are just spending the additional room tax that is now charged to those stopping over on their way to other locations.
If you believe this article, I have a bridge I will sell you!

Honestjoe is right. They have been talking about Tourism in Prince George for the last 100 years. However there is very little for them to do, or see here.

Tourist have all of Vancouver Island, The Lower Mainland, the South and North Okanogan, Kootneys, Kamloops etc, which all have great tourist facilities and great weather.

Just took a Trip to Gibsons, and the Sunshine Coast, then over the Hope Princeton to Osoyoos, then to Penticton, Kelowna, to Vernon, then through Falkland and out at Kamloops to Cache Creek.

I am here to tell you once you clear Cache Creek heading North you are heading into some pretty dismal Country. Town wise and other wise. Once you hit Prince George and the terrible bloody roads, it becomes obvious why Tourists dont stay here, nothing to do and all day to do it.

The lakes that we have in close such as West Lake, Tabor Lake, Bear Lake,, have weeds growing in them and have signs advising you that you may get a rash and the itch. (Great advertising) A lot of the facilities in the smaller lakes have been removed by the Government and people are chopping down trees for fire wood, and crapping in the bush. (Great tourist attraction) Summit Lake and McCleod lake have no facilities to speak of, and are swarming with mosquitos, and black flies.
Ness lake and other lakes in the area have limited entry and limited facilities.

Throw in the limited time that we have for good weather, and Bobs your uncle.

Have a nice day.

YOu are absolutely correct palopu. This study sounds like a Mayor Rogers thing....let talk about it....not do anything about it.

If I remember correctly the last time they moved the tourism office it was a subsidization of a building sold at a huge loss a couple of years later.

IMO develop Fish Trap Island next to Foothills Boulevard into a world class RV site and then we are in business with river access, swimming holes, safe neighborhood, bus access to the rest of the city, and world class trail systems... Pretty hard to beat that almost anywhere else in the province?

"Tourism Plan" Add more taxes, that'll bring them in.

Well said Palopu...and very true!
Somehow,they always miss that part!
And I also agree with Eagleone.
Fishtrap Island or Cottonwood Park are perfect.
The city needs a damn good campground right on the river and in town.
Used to be a lot of people who drove their RV's to town and stayed in the city campground, to spend the weekend shopping.
Sure as hell can't afford to stay in hotels/motels,in PG anymore!
The end result...they just keep right on going!
What is PG Tourism doesn't seem to get about that?

So for the places that are tourist destinations, were they so before they had things to attract people there? Were people really flocking to the Kootenays for golf vacations before the number of courses down there skyrocketed? Were they going to the Okanagan for winery tours before that industry started to flourish? Were people going to the QCI to fish for salmon before all of the lodges opened up? What about Sun Peaks, were people heading there before the hill was developed?

Do you folks honestly think these things just fell out of the sky during a meteor shower, or, do you think that people actually had to put in some work to make it happen? If you believe the former, then there isn't much I can counter with. If you believe the latter, then surely you also must believe that some level of thought had to be put in place before that stuff came about. Is that not what this article is talking about?

The thing about tourist related activities is that they are almost always appealing to the general population as well, whether you are a tourist or not. So, anything we can do to increase our attractiveness to tourists, will also have the nice spinoff benefit of giving us something to do, thus making our city and area a more enjoyable place to spend time. That makes PG a more attractive place to live, do business and invest. Terrible concept I know.

Hey, I've got it! We could open up the world's first exhibit of perennially negative people. People would flock from afar to witness people complaining vigorously about things like potholes. They would also gasp in amazement and delight as they witnessed the irony of these same obtuse people moaning that nothing ever happens in PG, largely due to their own closed minded and stifling beliefs. The only problem with this is that people would only visit once because after about 30 minutes, they'd all be saying "what the hell is wrong with those people?" and they'd be on their way to somewhere else.

Yup, gotta love PG. I'd say that we're a big city with small town thinking, but that would be offensive to the small towns that do things substantially better than we do. The options for things to improve our city and add to our attrativeness are almost limitless. We just need people to do it. Problem is, we aren't a city of thinkers and innovators. We're historically a city of blue collar workers who were told what to do and when to do it. That is changing, but the remnants of the past still remain and the proof is in many of the comments you read on Opinion 250.

Great post, NMG, but spending money on studies and plans will not make PG into a tourist destination.

As mentioned by many, there is nothing for visitors to make PG a destination city. Unless some serious capital investment comes our way, we are a rest stop on the way to Alaska. That's not being negative, that's reality.

"Planning is necessary, especially when it comes to tourism development"

I agree!!!

But, what were the most recetn plans and were they accomplished? Planning without monitoring and adjusting is totally useless.

With a 10 year planning horizon, when do we find out whether it has been successful? Hopefully not after 10 years. We do not have 10 years plus 10 yhears plus 10 years.

Besides, the targets have not changed. SO what was done to increase those targets in the past? Have they increased? Why have they increased, stayed stagnant or decreased? I think I know why they decreased, if they have - 9/11, recent economic downturn, increasing Canadian dollar value, increase in fuel price.......

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Tactics

1. Investigating the feasibility of a commercial tourism development along the two rivers ... that does not take 4 years. Put it out there right now using NDI dollars, have the report back by the winter and implement it next year if it is positive. Get off your butts!!!!

My gut feeling about this one. There is nothing special about the rivers in PG. They have been ruined by industry. There is nothing along the shore even for the residents. Parks that were flooded 2+ years ago are not repaired. We really do not give a chit about our rivers. Until we do, forget it!

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2. Analyzing the potential of moving the visitor centre. What is there to analyze? Move the darn thing to the intersection of the main two highways as soon as possible. Twice the wrong decision was made. First to not build it at that location and insgtead put it on 15th and Victoria when Hooper was the CEO, then to put it on first when Offet was at the helm. Two extremely poor decisions with 20 or so lost years.

Now we have another bad decision of analyzing. Maybe we should put it at the jail and have inmates operaste it for nothing. What in god's name is there to anlayze??????

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Sport fishing capacity increase? Another no brainer.

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Encourage partnerships? An over used word that has no meaning.

Tourism is an integrated industry like most other industries. It will not work without all involverd participating. One weak link and the whole chain unravells. it is more than encouraging. It has something to do with requiring. If the right groups are not involved from the start, call the program off.

"We're historically a city of blue collar workers who were told what to do and when to do it."

Now there is an interesting hypothesis that seems to have merit at first glance. Thanks for that.

I wonder what others think about that.

To add to my point above, if you're a tourist and you like the great outdoors, wouldn't make more sense to go to Vancouver and drive to Whistler or Squamish or would you want to come to PG, which is close to nothing.

This is another case where our geography hurts us. There is no plan or study that will overcome that.

The success on tourism will come on line just about the same time downtown revitalization is finished. River side amenities? Where? Who owns the property near any part of either river. FNs? The city? The province? Private interests? Don't forget to notify Fisheries Canada and it's provincial counterpart if you are gonna do anything within a thousand feet of either river. Might take about 12 years for anyone who cares to get their "ducks in a row" and then just budget for a feasibility study plus more studies. Then find investors. Then do the re-zoning and see if the neighbours like it. By that time I will be dead and gone. Come to my grave side then and tell me all about it.

"To add to my point above, if you're a tourist and you like the great outdoors, wouldn't make more sense to go to Vancouver"

I guess it all depends on what you want to do. If you'd like to go fly fishing for Grayling, you don't have that opportunity in the LML. If you want to take a 40-50 mile canoe trip on a beautiful chain of remote lakes, same thing. There ARE things we can offer in our location that other centres cannot, we just don't recognize it.

I do tend to agree that making PG a large scale tourist "destination" will be difficult, however, I'm not sure that's what the goal should be. I think we are better off focusing on improving the city so that people could at least find things to do for a day or two while they pass through and I also think we have opportunities for smaller scale operations to very specific user groups.

Start small with changes that will not only be attractive for tourists, but also for us. If we make the city more appealing, it's only natural that other things will follow.

NMG you are right about PG area having many opportunities that we could offer.

The problem as I see it is the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, and the local Lands Management Branch. They are very opposed to any recreational tourism developments in this region. In my dealings with the Land Management Branch here in PG the manager came right out and said his job is to maximize the revenue government can generate from public lands, and that the provincial government focus is on large multinational corporations that pay their bills and have the resources to meet government policy objectives. The local manager actually bragged about the fact he has never approved of a single recreational tourism application in the PG region in over 30-years. Mines and forestry have priority and as the 'planners' see it there is no more room for public acquisition of land or public use of lands that don't meet their already predefined land management plans.

If a location is perfect for a river side campground that could offer the strengths of this region... but the planers at the land management branch have already designated it for forestry... then they will not change their mind as it is set in stone.

I was looking at land that was logged 30+ years ago and never replanted... a very nice location on the river for a recreation tourism hub... forestry is its current designation... its without a forest and yet that remains its only possibility in the minds of the planners that authorize use of the land. I wish they would just replant it then if they will not allow anyone else to utilize its value.

Essentially if you are a foreign based corporation that has deep pockets you can buy what ever you want in BC. But if you are a resident and citizen of BC since birth you have no possibility of buying public lands, or even accessing public lands for entrepreneurial activities. Its a symptom of the corpocracy that is killing free enterprise in this province.

PG is designated heavy industrial by the provincial government and anything that could diversify us away from that is strongly discouraged in anyway the government can influence such policy as through access to the land via the land management 'plans'.

The government would rather we work for large multinationals rather than have an enterprise of our own. Its more convenient for government and their bureaucracy and the people they work for. They have it as policy to keep the two land use views from mixing and have zero tolerance for anything that could be perceived to conflict in the future with forestry and mining.

That's what I've experienced anyways. No point getting much past the planning stage when an entrepreneur deals with road blocks like that of a bureaucracy that has all the power.

If you want to change policy, eagleone, you are talking to the wrong people. Talk to your local MLA and the Minister responsible.

Also, you can get involved with the SFM process for the PG TSA, TFL30, etc. I suspect that if it fits well with the overal plan, the licensees will support proposals to increase recreational use of the lands they are responsible for managing.

That being said, in my view we have enough delapitated tourist huts and do not need any more "developments" put together with very little finances.

"There ARE things we can offer in our location that other centres cannot, WE JUST DON'T RECOGNIZE IT."

Precisely! We are not Niagara Falls, or Granville Island or Cavendish Beach.

1. You want to visit a spectacular City? Forget about trying to compete there. If anyone is thinking that way, they are already starting off on the wrong foot.

2. Want to attend events and festivals? Forget it. We do not have the capacity to even house enough people if we were going to try. Mardi Gras coupled with Snowgolf is as close that we ever got to that along with the Salmon Valley Music Festival. We have proven to be underfunded and have no staying power.

3. Want to visit Canada’s Natural Wonders? Getting closer. We are 4 hours or less away from Jasper.

4. Want to see Canada’s array of outdoor activities? Now we are talking. Hiking, mountain biking, climbing, kayaking, canoeing, skiing, snowshoeing, ATVing, Snowmobiling, dog sledding, fishing, hunting, helicopter skiing and hiking, wildlife photography “safaris”, etc. etc.

This is the place. Millions go to Ontario and Quebec to do that where there are just as many blackflies and mosquitoes as here. Put together a package, couple it with excellent places to stay, figure out year round uses, include some First Nations guides, and you have something that Europeans and the newly rich Asians will come to.

Why go to China to talk only about building with sticks? Talk about investing in this country to create tourist spots for those from their country.

Just put a foreigner’s hat on. Bring some here and pick their brains as to what they would like to do here if they had a couple of weeks.

Finally, remember that about ¾ of the visitors to this country are from the USA. Many travel though this area to see Alaska. You know, that place with all the bugs, gravel roads, and little hick villages. We already have number one problem solved. They are not interested in the wannabees in Vancouver and Victoria that plant more and more palm trees every year to make them look like LA. They are not afraid to travel for weeks to get to the most God-forsaken place on earth.

I've talked to them as well. Mr Bell's office (as well as Offit (spl) at IPG) derided the concept as 'red forest tourism' and laugh's at the idea anyone would visit a tourism destination in this region. The problem is everyone assumes any recreational tourism development will be a 'delapitated tourist huts' unless you can flash a few million dollars up front, and even then you have the 'red forest tourism' mentality of our local politicians.

The area I wanted to set up in is completely abandoned. Its all been logged out other than the strip along the river and has no mining value. The property doesn't have any neighbors for nearly 20km. My idea was to build a forestry style campground (good gravel base) with a boat launch and centralized sani-water station and a centralized laundry washroom center. The shape of the neighboring clear cut would be perfect for music festivals in the summer time. The area has hundreds of miles of ATV and dirt bike trails... so people would have a place to camp and ride (which is probably our regions biggest natural advantage)... add to that the river access and all the places one can go on the river with a river boat they can beach at their campsite... plus its a perfect location for river floats and canoe enthusiasts. Being close enough to town people could lease sites for summer months for a get away from home close enough to commute to work.

It doesn't take a lot of money to set something like that up, mostly just hard work and the time put into the land, but if you can't even put a bid in for the land at any price due to government 'planners', then it has no chance at getting off the ground and no chance of raising potential funds for the spin off business ideas without access to the land in which the enterprise would take place on.

Essentially prime land is laid to waste and left like that because 'planners' want to reserve the land base for some nebulous future logging on a parcel of land that hasn't been replanted in the 30-years since they harvested it. The biggest part that kills my idea is that I wanted to preserve some of the surrounding land for future access to ATV's and dirt bikes and even though its already been logged the 'planners' want it set aside for logging at some point 100 years into the future....

At some point the average citizen in this region won't be able to have any public access to the river and won't have any place not already gated up to keep away recreational tourists... it will all be controlled for multinationals with limited access to the back country, and yet we will still be told we are a free people.....

Prejudice against potential tourism developments as 'delapitated hut' varieties kills all future potential of the land base. Actual 'delapitated hut enterprises' hurt the real entrepreneurs as well it would appear.

If one was to see my personal yard they would understand I'm not going to be in the business of 'delapitaded huts'. Landscaping can look great with a little bit of hard work and I would expect nothing less for any property I owned or developed.

This is a beautiful area and I enjoy living here, but this will never be a tourist destination. We should simply make the most of the people who pass through here on their way to somewhere else. It is not realistic to think that someone planning their vacation they have worked hard all year for is actually going to come here. Maybe we should spend a little more time and energy on making PG a better place for the people who already live here. Just a thought.

No point fishing here. Our "expert" biologists find it easier to just close everything down and say "no" instead of doing their jobs and managing fisheries. Oh well. I just "poach".

This is a beautiful area and I enjoy living here, but this will never be a tourist destination. We should simply make the most of the people who pass through here on their way to somewhere else. It is not realistic to think that someone planning their vacation they have worked hard all year for is actually going to come here. Maybe we should spend a little more time and energy on making PG a better place for the people who already live here. Just a thought.

PG has huge potential for local tourism. People from PG and surrounding area making vacation plans in the region. I think that is where the potential is... capturing our own neighbors for tourism. I think its a stretch to think we would be a tourism destination from much beyond the region other than the Alaska Highway tourists.