Tourism Revelstoke survey plans 50 years into the future

This story is part of a feature that first appeared in print in Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine’s December 2022 issue. Read the entire e-edition here:

Have you ever wondered what Revelstoke will be like 50 years from now? Whether you have or not, Tourism Revelstoke is planning Revelstoke’s future using a long lens. The DMO’s resident survey circulated throughout the community this fall, gauging how tourism affects the quality of life for locals.

Destination and Sustainability Manager, Robyn Goldsmith, says they’re planning 50 years ahead instead of the more immediate future because they want to have more of an impact. 

“We put such a long lens on it just because we kind of figured the further you get people thinking into the future, the more ambitious they can be about their planning,” says Goldsmith. “If you think five years into the future, it’s a bit limiting, but if you put a longer lens on it, you can think, what can we do with our climate in 50 years? What can we do?”

The survey results will be used to inform Tourism Revelstoke’s Destination Management Plan that, once drafted, will try to keep Revelstoke both competitive and sustainable as a tourist destination. 

Goldsmith says they will begin writing the plan at the beginning of December. Tourism Revelstoke has partnered with Destination Think, a destination management consulting company, to draft the plan. 

“Myself and the team from Destination Think, the team at Tourism Revelstoke, have a lot of ideas about what we’d like to see out of our tourism industry and how we’d like to see our tourism industry support the community, but it’s obviously really important that we consider our residents’ perspectives on that as well,” says Goldsmith.

The survey closed on December 1, and Tourism Revelstoke says they will announce the results to the public once they’ve been reviewed.