Community Tourism Foundations

Bowen Island Chamber of Commerce has embarked on a tourism planning initative through the Tourism British Columbia's Community Tourism Foundations program. Bowen Island is already in the business of tourism, the goal is manage this visitation and enable tourism to strengthen the local economy and community, with a focus on quality not quantity.
 
Tourism BC provides a paid facilitator to work with communities on a customized basis to identify their needs, create an action plan and execute that plan to manage tourism appropriately within the community.
 
The planning process for Bowen Island began with a meeting in December 2005. This was a facilitated group discussion exploring the critical aspects of the tourism economy on Bowen Island and various aspects of the Expression of Interest submitted to Tourism BC by Bowen Island Chamber of Commerce were examined in further detail. The discussion resulted in an Initial Meeting Report.
 
Step two was, for the facilitator with the assistance of key tourism stakeholders, to create a Situation Analysis, which outlines tourism trends, key markets and an inventory of the facilities, services, attraction and events that are currently on Bowen Island.
 
Step three. In July/06, taking the information from the Analysis, the group discussed a few key niche markets that Bowen could focus on including arts,culture,heritage; nature-based tourism; spa and wellness, festivals & events and golf. The group brainstormed what Bowen Island could be known for in 5 years and themes began to emerge that created a Vision for tourism planning.