The 2024 South Cariboo Tourism Forum is coming to 100 Mile House in November.
The forum is being hosted by the Cariboo Regional District and the District of 100 Mile House, who announced the event in joint press releases earlier this week. This event is designed to provide an opportunity for new and established tourism businesses in the Cariboo to connect and network with one another and representatives from the CRD, the South Cariboo Visitor Centre and Destination B.C. District of 100 Mile House Mayor Maureen Pinkney is excited about the event taking place at the Community Hall on Nov. 5.
"Tourism is an enormous part of our community and our economy. It's very valued to local residents and visitors," Pinkney said.
The district encourages any and all tourism operators to attend whether they operate resorts, hotels, motels, campgrounds, restaurants, guides or any other business or club that caters to tourists. Those who register can choose to do so for the whole or just part of the day, both for free, at www.discoversouthcariboo.ca/tourism-forum. Breakfast and lunch are included for those who sign up for the full day.
The forum itself will include an overview Community Tourism Plan, a session of Who's Who in Tourism, which promises to "hear from nearly a dozen organizations who support tourism and what they have to offer businesses" as well as focused presentations and discussion on topics that would be of interest to businesses and a facilitated discussion about how to work to advance the tourism industry are planned, according to the release.
This marks the first time a tourism forum has been held in the District of 100 Mile House and Joanne Doddridge, the district's director of economic development and planning, is looking forward to attending.
"This is a really great example of a partnership that we were able to put together where we're working together on different levels of government to host something like this," Doddridge said.
Doddridge noted that tourism has started to recover in the South Cariboo after the 2017 and 2021 wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic. She pointed to a recent survey that found residents of the South Cariboo believe tourism holds a lot of promise for the local economy and is an area for potential growth.
"I'm not sure that we're still quite at the pre-COVID levels yet, but we are inching ever closer to that level of tourism."
