Dear mountain bike tourism stakeholders:
On behalf of Tourism British Columbia and the Western Canada Mountain Bike Tourism Association (MBTA), we are pleased to provide you with an update on the progress of the Mountain Bike Tourism sector stakeholder meetings. The decision has been made to hold six (6) different meetings in key regions of the province so we may seek input into the development of the marketing plan province wide. Blair Baldwin is the facilitator who is also actively involved in the development of the rail trail network in BC branded the Spirit of 2010 Trail.
At each regional meeting we solicit a broad cross section of stakeholders which include:
1) Lift-access Bike Park Resorts
2) Commercial Tour Operators and Events
3) Destination Marketing Organizations
4) Industry Groups (such as MTBA)
5) Mountain Bike Tourism Services (hotels, bike shops/rentals, F&B, etc)
6) Provincial Govt Agencies
7) Regional and Municipal Govts
8) Mtb Clubs and Trail Stewardship Groups
At each meeting, we review Experiences BC; update all on the BC Recreation Trails strategy; ask for input to define the main mountain bike experiences that we want to market; what makes them unique; identify key targets and their characteristics; validate the current situation analysis for the competitive environment and our own internal assessment of the industry. We finish the meetings seeking input for objectives for the marketing plan. From each meeting, we update the information internally so that subsequent meetings have the benefit of others knowledge when we meet.
We have held meetings in Kelowna, Nelson and Nanaimo this month, all of which were well attended. We will be holding meetings Williams Lake and Prince George before the end of June. A meeting in Vancouver will be held in the early Fall.
Once the regional meetings are held, we will form a volunteer committee comprising one or two representatives from each region that will meet to consider all input and which will validate the findings and recommend strategies; budgets; sources of financing and timelines. The goal is to have a plan completed prior to Christmas. We hope this update is informative and if you have any suggestions as we work through these meetings, please let us know.
To read the official Tourism BC announcement, please go to the following link: http://www.mbta.ca/assets/pdfs/Mtn-Bike-Announcement-May-2009.pdf
Happy Riding!
Martin Littlejohn and Donna Green, Directors
Western Canada Mountain Bike Tourism Association
Heather Boyd, Coordinator, Sector Development
Tourism British Columbia
