The Government of British Columbia is investing $10.5 million in 14 resort communities for projects that help enhance local tourism infrastructure and amenities.

The funding comes from the government’s Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI) which helps to grow the tourism sector in the eligible municipalities of Fernie, Golden, Harrison Hot Springs, Invermere, Kimberley, Osoyoos, Radium Hot Springs, Revelstoke, Rossland, Sun Peaks, Tofino, Ucluelet, Valemount and Whistler.

More than $108.6 million in RMI funding has been invested since 2006 to support the unique challenges and opportunities faced by these smaller resort-oriented municipalities. Communities use this funding to enhance their infrastructure, services and programs – all of which are crucial to growing the tourism sector within their local economies. Projects range from trail and boardwalk improvements to venue development and tourist information services.

The RMI helps these resort municipalities to increase the number of visitors and their length of stay, broaden resort activities to expand the length of the tourist season, increase employment, and diversify the local tax base.

Tourism is one of the sectors identified in the BC Jobs Plan, which continues to build on the strengths of eight of our province’s most competitive sectors, utilizing our educated and skilled workforce and keeping our economy diverse, strong and growing.

RMI supports the BC Jobs Plan and B.C.’s Tourism Strategy, Gaining the Edge: 2015-2018, by helping resort-based municipalities to address the unique challenges they face as seasonally dependent economies. Including RMI funding, the Province invested more than $98 million last year in the tourism sector throughout British Columbia.

The Province’s tourism sector is experiencing significant growth in 2016. The number of total overnight international visitors to British Columbia in 2016 so far (January to July) surpassed the three million mark (3,200,503) for an increase of 12.5% over the same period last year.

Tourism supports close to 19,000 businesses and 127,500 employees in the province.

Quote:

Shirley Bond, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Minister Responsible for Labour –

“B.C.’s tourism industry is experiencing incredible growth. It’s helping to create jobs and is one of the reasons why our province has the leading economy in Canada. Resort Municipality Initiative funding ensures qualifying resort communities have the resources they need to provide a world-class traveller experience. It’s an important step toward making sure visitors return to our province for years to come, supporting businesses and keeping our economy diverse, strong and growing.”

Quick Facts:

• Including RMI funding, the Province invested more than $98 million last year in the tourism sector throughout British Columbia.
• A total of 4.9 million international visitors came to B.C. in 2015 – 359,750 more people compared to 2014.
• In 2014, the tourism industry generated $14.6 billion in revenue with a direct contribution to B.C.’s gross domestic product of $7.1 billion.

Learn More:

BC Jobs Plan: http://www.bcjobsplan.ca/

To learn more about the Resort Municipality Initiative visit: http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/topic.page?id=30A40BDA6D8346798E15C6050063F719