Tourism Destination Development Plan, Kelowna, BC

Reimagine Tourism:

vision for sustainable growth

Contents

Forward 3

Introduction 4

Purpose 5

Process & methodology 6

Defining destination management 8

Situation analysis 9

Place DNA® conclusions 9

Themes that emerged 10

Tourism as a way towards Indigenous Reconciliation 12 Industry and Resident Engagement 14

Alignment with existing strategic planning 17

Imagine Kelowna - The Vision to 2040 17 Tourism Kelowna Strategic Plan 2022-2027 18

Niche validation research 18 Conclusions 19

The Strategy 20

Strategic Framework 21 Strategic Priorities 22 Transition together 23 Raise resilience 26

Enhance experiences 29

Begin with an action with impact 33

What is an action with impact? 33

Thought starters 33 Measurement 34

Appendix A 36

Niche validation research and recommendations 37

Forward

Tourism Kelowna envisions Kelowna and the Central Okanagan as a sustainable, fourseason destination that attracts visitors from around the world.

As your destination marketing and management organization, we collaborate with tourism businesses and community partners to develop a tourism economy that is sustainable and welcoming for both visitors and residents. We know it is a privilege to be entrusted with the social license to tell the story of this beautiful valley to the rest of the world, and we recognize that we ourselves are the original visitors as we live, play, and do this work on the unceded traditional territory of the syilx/ Okanagan people.

Kelowna is now Canada’s fastest growing census metropolitan area, and in addition our region hosts more than 2 million visitors annually. With 86% of residents reporting that sustainable tourism is important to them, yet only 61% feeling that we are currently attracting the right group of visitors, we recognize now more than ever, the vital need for responsible stewardship and a collaborative approach to destination management.

This Tourism Destination Development Plan was co-created with the City of Kelowna, industry, and the community. Our work began in 2019, focused on engaging residents and industry stakeholders to inform the development of this guiding framework. Following a two year pause during the global pandemic, we completed the public and industry engagement work needed to identify the unique gaps, challenges and opportunities outlined in this plan.

This was our opportunity to rethink the way we approach tourism, especially during a time of economic recovery for the visitor economy. It was also important that the TDDP is aligned with Tourism Kelowna’s long-term Strategic Plan’s four strategic goals: to establish the Central Okanagan as a four-season destination; foster the sustainable growth of the destination; ensure organizational excellence; and engage our partners and stakeholders to collaborate to grow the visitor economy together.

This plan is a commitment and a starting point for a new direction. Along with the collective confidence of the Central Okanagan tourism industry and support from our stakeholder partners, Tourism Kelowna stands ready to lead, facilitate and guide the implementation of these recommendations. We share the common goal to build economic resiliency and sustainability while ensuring that we remain conscious caretakers of the transformational experiences and exceptional quality of life this very special destination offers.

We invite you to join us as we share our stories with the world!

Lisanne Ballantyne President & CEO, Tourism Kelowna

June 15th, 2022

Kelowna is situated on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the syilx/Okanagan people.

Introduction

Destination marketing organizations are transitioning into Destination Management Organizations and in the process developing more sophisticated approaches to supporting their regions through a focus on destination development.

Tourism is a key component of Kelowna’s economy, generating over $2B in economic activity for the community. This status of significance within the economy creates a certain level of responsibility to manage growth in a manner that supports and benefits the whole community. Kelowna has recognized the risks in allowing the destination to develop organically, instead of playing an active role in shaping outcomes that are aligned to its vision and the aspirations of its stakeholders and community.

Kelowna is a place where many residents feel like they are on vacation, experiencing joy and excitment, even as they move through their daily lives. This speaks to the attractiveness of the region and the success of the visitor economy. It also creates a unique dynamic between residents and visitors, groups of individuals that have much in common and share preferences that can lead to competition over tourism assets, experiences and places. Stakeholders agree that Kelowna faces a collection of challenges within the categories of infrastructure, seasonality, visitor behaviour, reputation, housing affordability, and maintaining small town character. On an individual basis, none of these challenges are out of the ordinary compared to DMOs world wide. It is their collective nature within the backdrop of Kelowna’s context that makes them unique.

The objective of this strategy is to innovate around solutions to these challenges and uncover opportunities in shaping the evolution of the region. Based on these challenges, this plan proposes three strategic pillars supported by a collection of strategic priorities as show in the diagram below. The strategic pillars include Transition Together, Raise Resilience, and Enhance Experiences. The strategic pillars and priorities aim to ensure the resilience and vibrancy of the region’s visitor economy and plan the future of tourism in a way that is considerate of all stakeholders.

This strategy is also a commitment from Tourism Kelowna to the shift towards destination management. It’s the start of a next chapter in the organization’s journey of working collaboratively to continue the visitor economy’s success and contributions to developing Kelowna into the vibrant city it is today.

Strategic Pillars

As DMOs around the world grapple with an evolving set of economic, social and environmental challenges, they are realizing that building thriving visitor economies requires thinking beyond promotion.

Together Raise Resilience

Purpose

The purpose of this destination development plan is to identify the strategic direction and priorities required to shape the visitor economy in a way that positively impacts all stakeholders from residents to visitors.

The strategic direction and priorities will create the conditions for high-quality visitor experiences, a thriving local community, and the protection of cultural and environmental assets.

Project objectives:

• Develop a destination development plan that is aligned with the destination’s core values and facilitates the realization of the vision and sustainability pledge.

• Engage your stakeholders to create a sense of ownership throughout the process of collaboratively shaping and prioritizing actions

Building from a strong foundation

Tourism Kelowna’s vision, sustainability pledge and core values are important building blocks that inform this destination development plan. This strategy does not start from scratch, instead it builds off the shoulders of past success, and incorporates the collective ambitions and principles as guidance.

Tourism Kelowna is a leading destination management organization that supports Kelowna and the region as a sustainable, four-season destination that attracts visitors from around the world.

We foster the preservation and continual restoration of the land, resources, and communities of the Central Okanagan. We continue to take action and make commitments to further diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in our work and in the region we support.

Vision Stewardship Pledge Core Values

Purposeful: We work with purpose and determination to achieve results that positively impact our community.

Forward-Thinking: We think outside the box, look for creative and inspiring solutions, and lead the way in everything we do.

Welcoming: We are open-minded, welcome new ideas, and embrace diversity.

Authentic: We are authentic and open in our communication, uphold our commitments, and remain true to our word.

Nurturing: We create, nurture, and value meaningful connections.

Process & methodology

The process is centred around stakeholder engagement, collaboration, and cocreation. It also employs principles to take a holistic approach to evaluating a destination based on economic, environmental and social considerations.

The strategy development followed a six-step process that was anchored by Tourism Kelowna’s vision and its community aspirations. The process included engagement with a range of stakeholders following “Design Thinking” principles. This approach ensures we have a clear understanding of the current state, are able to work with all relevant data, gather diverse stakeholder insights, co-create where appropriate, and apply best practices through a highly collaborative and inclusive process.

The outcome of this process is a destination development plan that matches the organization’s ambition, ensures buy-in from stakeholders, communicates this in aspirational terms to rally the industry, and includes guidance to measure success. Our staged strategic process is described chronologically in the diagram below, and the process is designed to be flexible and adaptable to the Kelowna context.

Destination Think has designed a methodology for developing destination development plans that are specific to the context of DMOs.

Strategic Planning Process

The project began with Step 1: Project Planning & Framing, which provided an opportunity to define objectives and confirm assumptions with your team. It is also an opportunity to mitigate project risks by clearly defining the project structure, introducing relevant team members, and solidifying a detailed project plan.

During Step 2: Where Are We?, we conducted research and best practice analysis to determine the current state of your destination, the regional tourism industry, and global tourism trends that might inform the visitor economy landscape in the coming years.

Step 3: Where Could We Be? is dedicated to aggregating options for potential directions and goals before collaborating with your team and stakeholders to identify the desired direction in Step 4: Where Do We Want to Go? We then developed both the strategies and action areas in Step 5: How Do We Get There? which is represented in the final report.

The final (optional) step is for our team to provide guidance during the execution of the strategic plan in Step 6: Are We Getting There? This is an offering that occurs after the launch of the plan to support if any implementation challenges arise.

Envisioned Future Mission values objectives

Step 1 Project planning & framing

Step

Where

Step

Where

Defining destination management

DMOs have traditionally been associated with a promotion-focused mandate. While this has produced positive results around the world, there is also a recognition that resident support can erode, and environmental impacts need to be given stronger considerations.

In order to address these evolving industry trends and societal needs, DMOs understand the necessity of adopting a broader set of responsibilities. These responsibilities include the facilitation of the activities of the visitor economy and the coordination of its stakeholders at the government, industry, and community level. It is an holistic approach that enhances the visitor and resident experience across the entire visitor lifecycle. It begins before a visitor arrives and continues after a visitor departs and includes the shaping of all touchpoints related to the destination experience. Destination management initiatives can range from communication activities to infrastructure projects.

Destination management is part science and part art. It is grounded in hard data and takes an analytical approach to uncovering risks and opportunities; however, it also incorporates the qualitative aspects of accounting for the emotions and sentiment of local residents and businesses. Ultimately, it should rally and align the people involved, setting inspirational goals, encouraging partnerships, and following the principles of good governance.

Destination management calls for a coalition of many organizations and interests working towards a common vision, ultimately assuring the competitiveness and sustainability of the destination. There are many elements of the visitor economy that need to be coordinated in order to achieve this common vision. Destination management takes a strategic approach to link up these separate elements into a cohesive tourism ecosystem. Effectively coordinated management can help to avoid overlapping functions and contradictory efforts with regards to promotion, visitor services, training/education, business support, advocacy efforts, and other destination management activities.

A DMO is not responsible for leading all aspects of managing a visitor economy. It must be strategic in determining which initiatives should be led by the DMO and which should be pursued through partnership, advocacy or a combination of all three.

Each destination’s unique context and stakeholder engagement will inform the focus of destination management activities. Globally, it is being recognized that the visitor economy does not inherently generate net positive outcomes for society. These negative impacts can manifest as economic, social, and environmental challenges. Effective destination management takes responsibility for a visitor economy’s negative impacts and uses the power of tourism to find innovative solutions.

Historically, tourism has developed organically in most places around the world, but there is an industry wide DMO transition underway.

Situation analysis

Place DNA® conclusions

A Place DNA® assessment was conducted to uncover the truth of Kelowna’s authentic identity. This is a quantitative and qualitative process of reviewing a combination of the destination’s dimensions including the DNA of its identity, its projected image and its perceived image. Various types of engagement and assessment were used throughout this process, such as workshops, surveys, channel observation and sentiment analysis.

Ultimately, a destination’s DNA is made up of a combination of elements that is unique to the place. Generally these types of elements are some combination and weighting of history, people culture, geography, climate, environment, and economy.

DNA

Projected Perceived

WorkshopsSurvey

Channel observation

History

Economy People Culture

Quantitative Qualitative

Sentiment analysis

Lake lifestyle

The lake and the associated lifestyle is central to Kelowna’s identity. This includes a social and amiable character of both residents and visitors experiencing this lifestyle.

A place in transition

Kelowna continues to transition from small town to a city. This is accompanied by growing pains. Residents have noticed more traffic and congestion, and identify that public transportation improvements and bike path expansion are needed. This transition also contributes to a changing identity. There is a desire to maintain the essence and connectivity of a small town as city expansion continues. There is also a need to find a unique identity instead of just comparing the place to other locations with references such as “Kelownafornia” or “Canada’s Napa Valley”.

“Kelowna is becoming younger, more liberal, more diverse. It is becoming very Urban, it is trying to become a large city which causes friction and which will be appealing to some and not to others.”

Kelowna Resident

Agriculture & Wine Social & Amiable

Lakes & Beaches

Lifestyle

Kelowna

Themes that emerged

Resident perspectives

The tables below shows how Kelowna residents perceive their city according to a survey. Kelowna is primarily described as a touristy place that is beautiful. It makes sense that the natural beauty of the region attracts so many visitors and residents often cite this as a main reason for moving there. Two other key attributes that were identified include a perception that Kelowna is developing and in transition. These two characteristics go together as residents recognize that the amount of development occurring is leading to a transition to a larger city.

Attributes

Touristy 94% Under-visited 6%

Beautiful 92% Ugly 8%

Developing 90%

Established 10%

In transition 88% Idle 12%

Happy 78% Unhappy 22%

Urban 72% Rural 28%

Place of the future 71%

Place of the past 29%

Vibrant 70% Quiet 30%

Friendly 70% Unfriendly 30%

Extrovert 67% Introvert 33%

Authentic 66% Fake 34%

Unique 64% Generic 36%

Social 63% Individual 37% Safe 62% Unsafe 38%

Young at heart 62% Serious 38% Busy 61% Relaxed 39%

Diverse 61% Uniform 39%

Open minded 59% Close minded 41%

Modern 58% Classic 42%

Open to change 57% Resisting change 43%

Conservative 56% Liberal 44%

Non-spiritual 55% Spiritual 45%

Strong community ties 55% Weak community ties 45% White collar 55% Blue collar 55%

Tourism as a way towards Indigenous Reconciliation

Kelowna residents recognize that they live on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the syilx/Okanagan people. Many would like Indigenous peoples and culture to be more present in the city. This includes incorporating Indigenous art, learning about traditional place names, understanding the connection between Indigenous peoples and the land, and recognizing and reconciling the impacts of colonialism.

Residents understand the role tourism can play. They see Indigenous owned businesses such as Nk’Mip Cellars, Kekuli Cafe and Quaaout Lodge & Spa at Talking Rock Golf Resort as examples of Indigenous experiences to build on.

“It is more than street signs and art pieces. There need to be opportunities to be more inclusive to Indigenous peoples.”

Resident

“Indigenous experiences have a lot of demand but there is little supply. How do we foster that from an authentic place?”

Industry member

Kelowna’s tourism industry also view Indigenous tourism experiences as an opportunity to strengthen the visitor experience as well. They recognize that many of these initiatives need to be Indigenously lead, or created in strong collaboration with Indigenous peoples.

Mature tourism destination

Kelowna sits at a crossroads with respect to its reputation and place lifecycle positioning. It can be viewed as largely serving the summer holiday market with a somewhat generic lake and sun reputation. This poses risks to long-term reputation. Intentional reputation management and destination development could create a more dynamic reputation that is still based around lake lifestyle but is unique to the Kelowna context. This will be important to differentiate the city from neighbouring areas that can offer similar tourism assets.

A key aspect to move beyond a generic reputation is focussing on specific niche market segments.

Demand

Kelowna Place Lifecycle

Time

Similarities of residents and visitors

Residents have many similarities to visitors. This is often because they relocated there after visiting because of all the natural beauty, weather, and lifestyle benefits that Kelowna has to offer. This can have benefits since the visitor economy assets that are developed are supported and used by many residents as well. However, residents have communicated that this does not grant the licence for unlimited growth and it does sometimes create competition between visitors and residents for similar assets and experiences.

“I love the beauty and climate of Kelowna. The lifestyle is very outdoorsy and I love how we can enjoy all the seasons in a very unique way. It feels good to live in a place that’s so beautiful. The lakes, mountains and scenery are worth staying for.”

Kelowna Resident

Disruptive visitor and resident behaviour

Some people who were engaged commented on the ways in which visitor and resident behaviour can be disruptive. This is most commonly from the “partiers” and the impacts are felt in the form of noise pollution on the lake, garbage, and partying in residential areas (Airbnb).

“Frankly feel hoodwinked. Everybody kept saying what a great place it was… key word is WAS!”

Kelowna Resident

Specific

Niche

Generic

KELOWNA Niche

Industry and Resident Engagement

To complement the quantitative data collected, two workshops were conducted in February 2022. One workshop consisted of Kelowna residents, and the other engaged tourism industry members. The workshops were complemented with a series of interviews to ensure an inclusive engagement. The conclusions of the insights uncovered are described below.

A city built for, and by tourism

Visitors and residents have a symbiotic relationship. Many residents were visitors first, or at least enjoy the same aspects that attract visitors. The visitor economy brings jobs and money into the city. Residents also understand the amenities and services they enjoy are a result of the visitor economy.

Where residents in other places might be disturbed by the volume of visitors Kelowna hosts, most residents see this as an asset. They are social and the hustle and bustle of the tourist season is in principle seen as a good thing. It creates a certain energy and liveliness. Residents’ support for tourism is demonstrated by the fact that 94% of local survey respondents consider tourism an important industry.

Support is not unconditional. But managed in the right way, there are a lot of opportunities for the future.

“Tourism brings jobs and the money that filter in to the city that we all benefit from”

Resident

“There is a great variety and quality of restaurants and companies and are here because of the tourism industry”

Resident

Seasonal impacts

Even though spring and fall attract visitors and winter benefits from nearby Big White Ski Resort, Kelowna is predominantly a summer destination. In these months, hotel occupancy and average rooms rates are high.

Overnight Visitor Trips to Kelowna

by

Industry members agree that “summer will take care of itself” and the high season doesn’t need to be supported by promotional activities from the DMO. While Tourism Kelowna hasn’t actively promoted the summer season, members observed that summer attributes were still dominant in promotions.

The tourism industry has organically sized itself based on the high season. This means there is a lot of excess capacity in the off season and a reliance on seasonal workers, making operations challenging.

Residents on the other hand can’t enjoy the services and amenities they enjoy in the off season. Even though residents would appreciate more year-round operators, they also warn against extending the summer season too much since they enjoy some downtime.

“I love walking down Bernard Avenue on a late summer day. No bikinis and rollerblades.”

Resident

“Summer takes care of itself but we can improve the way it takes care of itself. People will come but we can’t ignore it. It is more about management than it is promotion.”

Industry member

Disruptive visitor and resident behaviour

Visitors to Kelowna are there to have a good time. Vacations here have many qualities of a traditional summer holiday. People enjoy the sun, lake, wine, good food and good company. It’s a place of pleasure.

Many residents live in Kelowna for the same reason people visit, they are attracted by the same qualities as visitors. It’s what makes Kelowna, Kelowna. But having a somewhat generic reputation as a place to have a good time also attracts people who cross the line and negatively impact residents, quality of life.

Residents’ complaints included loud music from beaches, boats and short term rentals. They also commented that increasing numbers of visitors aren’t respectful regarding the environment. Industry commented that residents’ negative attitudes towards visitors can result in unwelcoming behaviours towards them.

Industry members also noted that the impact on the natural environment poses a bigger risk than resident support. Without a healthy ecosystem, there can’t be a healthy visitor economy.

Residents and industry feel that the rising prices due to the area’s popularity during summer attracts people who feel more entitled to negative behaviour. Industry members also noted that better aligned visitors, like corporate visitors, are often crowded out.

“Garbage and stuff is left behind. It speaks to the quality of visitors that come. Don’t go to someone’s house and make a mess and then leave.”

Resident

“People feel entitled when in our space and think like they can buy their way in. Riding around on loud motorcycles, blasting music in boats and making big waves on the lake.”

Resident

“Biggest opportunity is teaching locals how to appreciate guests and teaching guests how to appreciate our community.”

Industry member

Demand on (tourism) infrastructure

The popularity of Kelowna in the summer is stressing Kelowna’s infrastructure. Roads and parking lots can be congested while beaches, trails and campsites are full of tourists. Waiting times at the hospital are longer as well.

Residents and industry express frustration that a city the size of Kelowna doesn’t have better transportation options. Increasing public transportation and addressing the lack of ridesharing are considered low hanging fruit. Expanding and promoting bike trails was also seen as a priority, especially considering residents’ ambitions towards sustainability.

“You have to walk from YLW to UBC with your suitcase to take transit”

Resident

“Where is Uber?”

Resident

Residents speak nostalgically about the past when it was possible to get campsites in, or close to the city on short notice. Residents suggested a new municipal campsite in the city, but most recognized that this would probably not lead to a return to the past. What is important to recognize is the fact that even though residents are excited by the growth of their city, they want to maintain a sense of connection to the community.

In the industry workshop, it was noted that some residents perceive the need to compete with visitors for resources. Residents compete with short term rentals for housing, for reservations in restaurants, a spot on the beach or a parking spot at the mall. Prioritising residents, or sending them more love could go a long way to easing frictions.

Alignment with existing strategic planning

Imagine KelownaThe Vision to 2040

Imagine Kelowna –The Vision to 2040 was created in response to the anticipation of a rapidly changing future.

It takes a proactive placemaking approach to the community having a hand in shaping the future in the face of uncertainty. As one stakeholder aptly stated, “flexibility and adaptability is what is going to help us through all the changes. Values last longer than plans, we can’t prepare for everything in the future.” Indeed, this report provides important information to inform our understanding of the community’s values so that it can be translated into strategic action.

Vision:

• Puts people first

We try to balance the needs of everybody in our decision making. We recognize that inclusivity and diversity make us a stronger and more innovative community.

• Values its history

We celebrate our heritage, and learn from our past to reconcile it with a better, more inclusive future we see for ourselves.

• Encourages curiosity and creativity

We learn continuously to respond and adapt to rapid change. We find innovative ways to meet social, economic and environmental challenges and opportunities.

• Recognizes the changing roles of individuals, businesses, governments and community organizations

The well-being of our city is a shared responsibility and everyone needs to do their part to seize opportunities for improvement.

Principles:

• Collaborative: A community where people of all backgrounds work together to meet collective challenges.

• Smarter: A community willing to learn, adapt and grow so we can thrive amid rapid change.

• Connected: A community where residents are connected to their neighbours, their city and the wider world.

• Responsible: A community where decisions are made ethically and where social and environmental concerns are prioritized.

Key takeaways:

• There are many aspects of the Imagine Kelowna plan that can be supported and accelerated through this destination development plan, such as:

Diverse and inclusive decision making practices.

Improving the connectivity of the community.

Valuing and emphasizing the unique cultures and stories of the region.

Recognizing the collaboration and combination of roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders throughout the process of placemaking.

• Similarly to the way the Imagine Kelowna plan addresses the uncertainty of future changes, so to should this plan employ flexibility and adaptability.

• The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals provide a helpful framework for organizing and pursuing the community’s sustainability ambitions.

Tourism Kelowna Strategic Plan 2022-2027

The Tourism Kelowna Strategic Plan sets out a vision for Tourism Kelowna and a framework to guide key initiatives over the coming five years. The plan addresses the categories of addressing seasonality, increasing economic success, pursuing sustainable growth, and solidifying the DMO’s value within the community and visitor economy.

Vision:

Tourism Kelowna is a leading destination management organization that supports Kelowna and the region as a sustainable, four-season destination that attracts visitors from around the world.

Strategic pillars:

• Increase high quality year-round visitation

• Growing-destination spending

• Manage sustainable growth of the destination

• Ensure the DMO’s value proposition

Key takeaways:

• Key measures of success demonstrate that it is not just visitor sentiment that is valued but residents and industry stakeholders as well.

• Needs for a destination master plan and Place DNA® study were identified as needs.

• There are economic goals around visitation numbers and average party spend increases.

• Many of the needs identified are in alignment with those uncovered during recent stakeholder engagement, including:

Expanding product development in alignment with the sense of place

Educating residents and other stakeholders

Growth through a sustainable lens

Addressing seasonality

Niche validation research

Niche validation research was conducted to provide a foundation for targeting specific market segments that align with Kelowna’s Place DNA® and provide high holistic value for the destination. The research was also carried out with consideration for the combination of challenges that Kelowna faces, therefore, the niches recommended support the following objectives:

• Address seasonality

• Build a more differentiated and competitive reputation

• Inject more purpose into experiences

See Appendix A for the niche validation research findings.

CONCLUSIONS

Align with existing strategic plans

This strategic plan should act in collaboration with existing strategic plans. There are opportunities to support the delivery of plans such as Imagine Kelowna –The Vision to 2040 and Tourism Kelowna Strategic Plan 2022-2027 and reinforce overlapping objectives.

Growth in summer will happen organically

Kelowna has a strong natural draw of visitation during the summer months so promotional efforts should be focused on the offseason. Residents have also expressed that the summer brings quite a bit of congestion so it would be beneficial to distribute more visitation throughout the rest of the year.

Responsible growth

Resident support for the tourism industry is currently strong. To maintain this support, industry stakeholders and residents advocate for sustainable growth. This includes offering more low impact experiences, seasonal dispersion, maintaining the intimacy and connectivity of small town character, and cultivating respectful visitors. It also includes maintaining the pace of infrastructure needs such as bike paths, public transportation, public space facilities, etc.

Love Kelowna residents

Kelowna’s residents enjoy many of the same things visitors enjoy. Even though without the visitor economy, many of the things residents enjoy couldn’t exist, the tourism industry needs to recognize the impact of visitor volume during the high season on residents. Special attention and recognition should be given to residents to minimize or mitigate these effects.

Inject purpose

A destination based on a somewhat generic summer holiday poses risks. Competition is fierce with this approach and it can attract visitors that misalign with residents. There are benefits to moving along the spectrum from a focus on pleasure based experiences (hedonia) to adding elements of purpose (eudaimonia) into the mix of experience offerings. This can have a positive impact on differentiation and positioning while attracting more respectful visitors.

Transition visitor psychographic

Stakeholders expressed an interest in attracting more values aligned visitors who respect the people and place more. This can be facilitated by pursuing some of the new niche markets identified.

Prioritize Indigenous Peoples and Experiences

Indigenous experiences are recognized as a key opportunity and should be prioritized while pursuing destination development. This experience development should be led by Indigenous communities.

Based on the research and engagement conducted there are a collection of key challenges and opportunities that inform the types of destination development strategies pursued.

THE STRATEGY

Strategic Framework

Values Strategic Pillars Strategic Priorities Suggested Actions Measurement

Transition Together

Formalize stakeholder engagement

Attract values aligned visitors

Increase visitor and resident education

Purposeful Forward Thinking

Welcoming

Authentic

Nurturing

Raise Resilience

Improve connectivity and transportation

Encourage the development of affordable housing

Protect the environment

Develop and activate more public spaces

Enhance Experiences

Pursue purpose based niche market segments

Develop and/or protect backstage experiences for resident

Develop Rich Ecosystems of Experiences

Suggested Actions Suggested Actions Suggested Actions

KPI’s

Vision

KPI’s

Tourism Kelowna is a leading destination management organization that supports Kelowna and the region as a sustainable, four-season destination that attracts visitors from around the world

KPI’s

Strategic Priorities

Pillar Priorities Role

Transition together

Objective: facilitate the evolution of Kelowna in a way that incorporates and benefits all stakeholders

Formalize stakeholder engagement Lead

Attract values aligned visitors Lead

Increase visitor and resident education Lead + Partner

Raise Resilience

Objective: protect and improve the elements that will allow Kelowna to thrive even in the face of challenges

Enhance Experiences

Objective: pursue place-making as an opportunity to improve the visitor experience and quality of life for both visitors and residents

Improve connectivity and transportation Advocate

Encourage the development of affordable housing Partner + Advocate

Protect the environment Partner + Advocate

Develop and activate more public spaces Advocate

Pursue purpose based niche market segments Lead

Develop and/or protect backstage experiences for residents Lead

Develop Rich Ecosystems of Experiences Lead

Role definitions

The following definitions bring more specificity to what it means to lead, partner and advocate when pursuing various strategic priorities.

Lead: Tourism Kelowna is the primary actor in carrying out the initiative and is responsible for the planning, funding, logistics and execution.

Partner: Tourism Kelowna works alongside another party who has joint decision making power. Responsibilities are shared across the planning, funding, logistics and execution of the initiative.

Advocate: Tourism Kelowna uses its voice, relationships to influence outcomes but is not directly involved in the planning, funding, logistics or execution of the initiative. Advocacy can take the form of producing data and research, communication tactics to raise awareness and educate, and building relationships with decision makers.

Transition together

Objective: facilitate the evolution of Kelowna in a way that incorporates and benefits all stakeholders.

Formalize stakeholder engagement

Role: Lead Overview:

The management of the visitor economy would benefit from expanded, more structured and holistic stakeholder engagement. Resident and industry members indicated that they would appreciate a stronger voice in decision making. Tapping into these voices who know the city so well can be a competitive advantage for shaping the visitor economy for the future.

Suggested Actions:

• Develop a stakeholder engagement platform to host discussions and aggregate feedback in an efficient and comprehensive manner.

• Strengthen relationships across key stakeholder groups (City, industry, residents, Indigenous communities, and others) and provide more opportunities for cocreating plans and solutions.

• Apply a DEI lens to stakeholder engagement, removing the barriers (location, time, creating a safe space) that some groups face in participating, and asking “whose voices are underrepresented?”

Specifically, making sure that certain parts of the community are engaged and represented such as the Indigenous, LGBTQ+, Muslim, and other marginalized communitites.

• Strengthen relationship with Indigenous communities to identify which aspects of destination development should be led by Indigenous peoples, and to ensure Indigenous perspectives are properly represented.

Inspiration: Austin engagement platform

“Speak up Austin” is a community engagement platform that uses crowdsourcing to encourage engagement. Feedback is collected and utilized in the execution of projects.

Transition together

Attract values aligned visitors

Role: Lead Overview:

Attracting values aligned visitors is essential to facilitating a tight knit community and maintaining Kelowna’s values. Some stakeholders have expressed that some visitor behaviour can have negative impacts on the community. Achieving visitor alignment is about having ongoing stakeholder discussions of the characteristics of a high value visitor and what they contribute across the dimensions of economic, social and environmental impact. This will ultimately lead to a visitor economy that reduces friction between residents and visitors and is more sustainable over the long term.

Suggested Actions:

• Develop targeted campaigns that attract visitors that provide holistic value to the community, including positive economic, social and environmental impact.

• Promotion should be focused outside of the high season since visitation will occur organically in the summer months.

• Include accessibility disclaimers associated with attractions and events.

• Include inclusivity statements associated with attractions and events.

• Ensure development of tourism related assets are welcoming to a diversity of visitors. For example, increasing the adoption of gender neutral washrooms.

Inspiration: Why Greenland may not be for you

This initiative made it clear which types of values are in alignment with Greenland and importantly, which are not. The messaging set visitor expectations ahead of time and aimed to cultivate a visitor mix that would have a positive impact on the destination.

Transition together

Increase visitor and resident education

Role: Lead + Partner Overview:

As an extension of attracting values aligned visitors, it is important to cultivate respectful visitors and residents through education initiatives. Regarding visitors, initiatives should communicate community expectations and raise awareness about the impact that visitor activities have on the city. There is an opportunity to educate visitors about sustainability which they can also apply back home. When it comes to residents, it would be helpful to continue to demonstrate the value of tourism and encourage visitors to be welcoming hosts. In general, tourism is a way to open people’s minds. Stakeholder engagement has indicated that there are aspirations for improvement both socially, and environmentally. This means moving along the spectrum from tolerance to embracing marginalized communities, and increasing the level of sustainability in peoples’ day to day actions.

Suggested Actions:

• Launch educational campaigns communicating visitor expectations and community values.

• Engage with community organizations that specialize in inclusivity, accessibility, and the environment to leverage best practices and expand the initiative’s impact.

• Create more signage and other media opportunities to educate visitors and residents regarding respectful and sustainable behaviour. For example at boat launch areas and other high traffic public spaces.

• Use visitor experiences as an educational opportunity to contribute towards Indigenous reconciliation.

Inspiration: New Zealand’s visitor education

New Zealand has been a leader in educating their visitors and residents about how to respect their destination. Specifically, they have run a “Care for New Zealand” campaign to educate their visitors. They provide principle based guidance that is informed by the Indigenous peoples and their culture.

Raise resilience

Objective: protect and improve the elements that will allow Kelowna to thrive even in the face of challenges.

Improve accessibility and connectivity

Role: Advocate Overview:

While the city has many things going for it in terms of accessibility and connectivity, stakeholders expressed that they would like to see improvements. As the place continues to transition into a bigger city, it will be easier to embed accessibility and connectivity into its DNA early on, rather than trying to augment it once infrastructure is established. This means a focus on facilitating accessibility and participation outside of those that are able-bodied and affluent. It also means designing a connected city that moves people efficiently in a low impact and sustainable manner. An example of where progress has already been made in this area is the new features at Pandosy Waterfront Park which will allow wheelchair access into the water. To build off of this success it will be helpful for Tourism Kelowna and the City to take a collaborative approach, including information sharing and coordinating projects and advocacy efforts.

Suggested Actions:

• If more data is needed, advocate for information collection such as congestion studies, to drive informed decision making.

• Advocate for accessibility in new developments and existing infrastructure/ attractions. This should include physical accessibility as well as addressing language barriers.

• Expand the existing network of bike paths and ensure that measures are taken to protect bikers and make biking more accessible to the casual biker.

• Encourage solutions around the lack of taxi supply during large events. This could take the form of allowing ride sharing services to operate.

• Advocate for increased and better public transportation, particularly an efficient connection to and from the airport, such as a shuttle service.

• Diversifying last mile transportation options by encouraging the expansion of services such as bikesharing, scooters, etc.

• The most efficient transportation is no transportation. This can be accomplished by dense, walkable experience hubs which are expanded upon in the strategy titled “Develop Rich Ecosystems of Experiences”.

• Physical signage, and/or digital route maps for bike pathways and on-street lanes is something that the City and Tourism Kelowna could develop together.

Inspiration: Montréal’s bike system

The city continues to expand its bike system and has shown the numerous benefits that this offers. Their approach is a model to guide other destinations since it has been rated as one of the most bike-friendly places in North America by the Copenhagen Design Index.

Raise resilience

Encourage the development of affordable housing

Role: Partner + Advocate Overview:

While the challenges of affordable housing go beyond the visitor economy, Tourism Kelowna and the visitor economy is both significantly affected by and should have a seat at the table for decisions regarding affordable housing. These efforts should be in partnership with key organizations such as OAP, the City, and the Kelowna Hotel Motel Association who overlap with different parts of housing development. Tourism operators have expressed the challenges with staff shortages and how this is related to affordable housing. Residents have also noticed how housing prices have increased over the years and some attribute this at least in part to the visitor economy. This is a strategy where it will be helpful for Tourism Kelowna and the City to take a collaborative approach, including information sharing and coordinating projects and advocacy efforts.

Suggested Actions:

• Meet with the key organizations and stakeholders involved with housing development to establish a working relationship and to determine the specific role (within a partnership/advocacy approach) Tourism Kelowna should play.

• Determine if more housing information/data is required to make informed decisions. If so, consider co-sponsoring or supporting the facilitation of information collection.

• Advocate for more affordable housing and support affordable housing development ratios.

• Better promote awareness of the local tourism industry’s contribution to finding solutions. For example, a current contribution is that short-term rental guests in Kelowna pay a 3% local tax on their bill, providing over half a million annually which is allocated to support the City’s affordable housing initiatives.

Inspiration: Aspen, Colorado’s housing advocacy

One of the three pillars of Aspen’s destination management plan published in 2022 is to preserve its small-town character. That ambition relies on Aspen’s residents, but a lack of affordable housing prevents many from staying and has also created a labour shortage. To address this problem, Aspen’s strategy to advocate for housing crisis solutions includes a list of actions that will help the tourism industry make a positive impact for the good of the locals.

Raise resilience

Protect the environment

Role: Partner + Advocate

Overview:

The natural environment is the backbone of Kelowna’s visitor economy. It is also an attribute that is foundational to Kelowna’s Place DNA®. Specifically, the lake and “lake lifestyle” is the main environmental asset that drives visitation and facilitates outdoor activities and residents consider sustainability a core value. As a result it is vital that the lake and the natural environment in general be protected. Over time, it would be ideal that the visitor economy be harnessed not only for minimizing impact but as a force for net positive impact. Many stakeholders inside and outside of the visitor economy have a vested interest in a thriving natural environment so there are a number of community groups and businesses to partner with in order to build a coalition and multiply impact of initiatives. This is a strategy where it will be helpful for Tourism Kelowna and the City to take a collaborative approach, including information sharing and coordinating projects and advocacy efforts.

Suggested Actions:

• Encourage and support lake conservation and cleanup initiatives.

• Set a climate target at least in alignment with the Paris Agreement recommendations.

• Encourage tourism operators to set climate targets and take climate action.

• Support the protection of land in the agricultural land reserve (ALR).

• Promote low impact experiences such as sustainable farming and culinary experiences.

• Advocate for more electric vehicle charging infrastructure both in Kelowna and on major routes to Kelowna.

• Partner with an environmental conservation organization(s) and launch a stewardship fund where donations from visitors are collected to rejuvenate the environment.

Inspiration: Haida Gwaii Pledge

The pledge focuses on values, language, and education, so that visitors can be a force for protecting and rejuvenating the natural environment that they are enjoying. It also suggests a donation of 1% of travel spending to a stewardship fund to go towards preservation activities.

Enhance experiences

Objective: pursue placemaking as an opportunity to improve the visitor experience and quality of life for both visitors and residents

Develop and activate more public spaces

Role: Advocate Overview:

Kelowna’s residents have ambitions to stay connected and maintain a strong community feel as the city grows. Developing and activating more public spaces will contribute to this resident desire while at the same time building a vibrant visitor economy. A vibrant visitor economy is built around spaces where people can connect and feel like they are part of the fabric of the local community. This begins with environments where residents can congregate and results in welcoming visitors to become part of the community. This aligns with ambitions in the Imagine Kelowna strategy where a key principle is to develop “a community where residents are connected to their neighbours, their city and the wider world.” Pursuing this strategy will involve both the development of new public spaces as well as activating and enhancing existing public spaces to maximize their potential. This is a strategy where it will be helpful for Tourism Kelowna and the City to take a collaborative approach, including information sharing and coordinating projects and advocacy efforts.

Suggested Actions:

• Advocate for the expansion of public spaces such as parks, plazas, community centres and beaches.

• Continue to expand the initiatives to create pedestrian areas out of some sections of streets. For example, the closing Bernard St for pedestrians that occurs for periods of time.

• Activate public spaces through live music, art, culinary offerings, and cultural events.

• Maintain free and easily accessible activities such as the outdoor skating rink.

• Advocate for public spaces to be easily accessible and connected to the rest of the city (walking/biking paths, parking, public transportation).

Inspiration:

Discovery Green in Houston, Texas

Places that draw visitors and residents tend to have multiple activities, food, good coffee, markets, events like live music, and room for people watching. That formula is part of the design at Discovery Green in Houston. Once a large concrete lot, this location was transformed into a public space that opened in 2008. Today it hosts up to 1.5 million visitors per year.

Enhance experiences

Pursue purpose based niche market segments

Role: Lead Overview:

Currently Kelowna’s experience mix is weighted towards pleasure based experiences. Engagement with stakeholders has indicated that it is desirable to transition from a focus on experiences for pleasure to experiences for both pleasure and purpose. This transition can involve injecting a sense of purpose into some existing activities and exploring new market segments. The objective is not to completely depart from the types of experiences that Kelowna offers. Instead, the shaping of the visitor experiences should be rooted in Kelowna’s Place DNA® so as to reinforce Kelowna’s authentic identity.

Suggested Actions:

• Identify existing experiences to deepen through storytelling, education, arts and culture and support stakeholders in the implementation.

• Pursue the niches outlined in the Niche Validation Research section: conscious culinary connoisseur, accessible travel, and outdoor and cultural enthusiast.

• When developing cultural experiences, ensure that representatives of that community are consulted and are taking a leadership role.

For example, expanding Indigenous experiences is a significant opportunity and Indigenous people should be empowered to lead this expansion.

Inspiration: Mountain biking in Derby, Tasmania

This small town has attracted passionate riders since its Blue Derby mountain bike trails opened in 2015. Derby’s reputation among mountain bikers has grown enough that, in 2019, it hosted the Enduro World Series international mountain bike race. With this boost, the local tourism industry expects the enthusiasm for the trails to continue.

Enhance experiences

Develop and/or protect backstage experiences for residents

Role: Lead Overview:

Residents are quite understanding when it comes to visitor pressures. Many residents began as visitors and/or understand that many people are drawn to the region for its beauty and leisure activities. That being said, there is a point at which this visitor growth can hit a tipping point where visitor and resident competition for space and experiences can create friction. To alleviate this risk, it is helpful to maintain some areas and experiences for residents.

Suggested Actions:

• Engage residents to determine if there are certain areas that they would like to remain off the beaten path.

• Don’t promote every pocket of the destination. Allow some areas that residents frequent to remain under the radar.

• Maintain a certain number of reservation spots for residents, such as campsite reservations.

Inspiration: B.C.’s Discover Camping service

The B.C. government provides residents with priority access to campgrounds through a reservation system. Some sites remain first come, first served, while others are available for advance booking to residents only. BC Ferries also provides residents a reduced rate on some routes, especially for students, seniors, and those with disabilities.

Enhance experiences

Develop Rich Ecosystems of Experiences

Role: Lead Overview:

Developing pockets of the city that have an assortment of rich experiences will draw people to those areas and compel them to stay longer. Leveraging the place making strategy of the “Power of 10+” will assist in this endeavour. This approach is based on the hypothesis that places are vibrant and successful if people have many, in this case 10+, reasons to visit. It is best if there are a variety of reasons including food, entertainment, art, music, history, and places to sit and congregate. Places of congregation provide an opportunity to incorporate Indigenous experiences and storytelling.

While the reasons for visiting might be diverse, it is still important for the experiences to feel connected and rooted in the city’s identity. These dense experience hubs can address dispersion by drawing people away from overcrowded areas, and can be tailored to push back against seasonality if they are focused on the off seasons.

Suggested Actions:

• Target the development of experience hubs in areas of the city where more visitation is desired.

• Develop experience hubs that are designed for the winter season in order to build a stronger reputation for visiting outside of summer.

• Promote these experience hubs to support the tourism businesses associated with them.

• Engage residents to source ideas that will work best with the community. Community buy-in and use of these spaces will only make for richer experiences for visitors.

Inspiration:

The Hip Strip in Montego Bay, Jamaica

Investments in infrastructure can change visitor behaviour. In the 2000s, Montego Bay saw tourism dispersing too widely toward all-inclusive resorts outside the city. The visitor experience outside those resorts was getting worse. In response, the Jamaican government invested in the revitalization of a three kilometre long district known as the Hip Strip. This plan called for diversifying tourism businesses, providing more high-end accommodations, and improving visitor services. Today, the Hip Strip is a bustling magnet for tourism. Although Jamaica sought to concentrate rather than disperse visitors, the same principle of making experiences better applies to any destination seeking to change the flow of visitors.

Begin with an action with impact

What is an action with impact?

This strategy presents a shift for Tourism Kelowna. It’s as much a statement of intent, and a commitment to stakeholders as a guide towards the future.

Launching this destination development plan with an action with impact makes this shift visible and builds momentum to encourage buy-in from your community. It’s an initiative that starts delivering on the strategy in a way that’s tangible to the community.

OVERVIEW

• It is an action that expresses the DNA of your community and should be co-created and/or executed with your residents.

• These actions have intrinsic communicative power and can take many forms outside of a campaign.

PURPOSE

• A way to live your values and signal the types of values based visitors you want to attract.

• Bring people together to boost civic pride.

• Lift spirits and show appreciation during a time when we’re all still feeling the impacts of the pandemic.

This is the first tangible initiative that you will take as a DMO. A catalytic action can be a campaign but it doesn’t necessarily have to be. One example of how it can manifest as a campaign is Greenland’s “Why Greenland may not be for you” initiative. It was an effective educational campaign that served the purpose of steering away possible visitors that may not be values aligned and homed in on the types of respectful visitors who would thrive in the destination. Non-campaign examples can be in the form of visitor pledges that set the tone upon arrival or taking a stand to change a policy that would improve the quality of life for residents and visitors. In general, a successful catalytic action demonstrates that you’re listening to your community and taking action to support them.

Thought starters Beach cleanup rewards

Key insight: Visitors to Kelowna are there to have a good time. Not to get a lecture. We do want them to be mindful about their potential impact. This initiative would reward collective good behaviour in a fun way.

The idea: Every Friday during the summer season, an official rates the state of Kelowna’s beaches. When guests to the beach have done enough to keep the beaches tidy, participating hospitality operators offer a “clean beach special” on these Fridays. When successful, this concept can be extended to other aspects of Kelowna’s tourism industry, such as trails, lake behaviour, etc.

Extended wine storytelling

Key insight: Wine tasting is as much about the story, as it is about the wine. A good story makes everything taste better. Let’s build on this concept and use it as a learning opportunity.

The idea: Lead an effort to collectively start every wine tasting with an Indigenous land acknowledgment by all wineries in and around Kelowna. Then build on this by introducing more stories as part of wine tastings. Tying wine to Kelowna’s past and present culture. For example, telling a story about the lakes and the importance of water to the ecosystem.

Locals Appreciation Week

Insight: After the summer crowds have left, thanking Kelowna residents for their support and making their lives a little brighter could go a long way to maintaining happy welcoming residents.

The idea: For one week after Labour Day, it’s locals’ week in Kelowna. Locals get free access to museums, wine tasting, special rates in hotels and more. The highlight is a context where a whole street block can win a staycation at one of Kelowna’s hotels, occupying a whole floor.

Measurement

Destination management shifts the measures of success from pure economic KPIs to holistic KPIs related to social and environmental impacts. The first step in the implementation of this strategy is to collaborate with stakeholders to set the right targets based on the ambition, priorities, resources and available data to measure. Some KPIs will need benchmarking.

When building out more robust measurement it can be made more effective and efficient through collaboration with the City. It would be beneficial to incorporate tourism industry data into the City reporting, and similarly beneficial to incorporate City data into Tourism Kelowna reporting.

TOP LEVEL KPIS:

Economic

• Maintain current occupancy levels during peak season (benchmark needed)

• Grow off-season occupancy levels (benchmark and target needed)

Social

• Grow resident satisfaction with tourism (target needed)

• Grow overall resident satisfaction with Kelowna’s quality of life

Environmental

• Reduce negative and generate positive environmental impacts (benchmark and target needed)

• Reduce carbon footprint of Kelowna’s visitor economy to meet the Paris targets (benchmark needed)

Matching strategies and KPIs

The table on page 35 serves as a starting point for setting and developing KPIs for individual strategies.

Further measurement guidance

Beyond the KPIs outlined above, the GSTC Destination Criteria provides a comprehensive framework for identifying and organizing tourism impacts and performance indicators across the categories of economic, social and environmental. This set of criteria and associated measurement is informed by the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals and has been tailored for tourism destinations. The framework is detailed and extensive so it could be overwhelming to tackle all at once. Its usefulness lies as a tool to raise awareness of all the ways in which tourism impacts destinations and a way to prioritize which impacts should be focused on first. Prioritization should be achieved by matching Kelown’s most significant challenges with the relevant performance indicators. As progress is made and as more resources become available for measurement, the scope of KPIs tracked can increase accordingly.

There are also a number of GSTC-Recognized Standards, which are sustainable tourism standards that align with and/ or are built from the components of the GSTC Criteria. One well recognized standard of this nature is the Biosphere Responsible Tourism Standard for Tourism Destinations This measurement offering involves a destination audit and a platform for tracking impact indicators with the goal of continuous improvement. Thompson Okanagan British Columbia has completed Biosphere Certification and Tourism Kelowna is listed as a committed company as part of this certification. It would be helpful to continue to engage with Thompson Okanagan at a regular cadence to align on the prioritization of Biosphere certification performance indicators and increase the ambition level of targets over time.

Matching strategies and KPIs

Pillar Priorities Suggested KPIs

Transition together

Objective: facilitate the evolution of Kelowna in a way that incorporates and benefits all stakeholders

Formalize stakeholder engagement

• Engagement platform in place

• Number of engaged stakeholders

• Number of stakeholder sessions attended or conducted

• Resident satisfaction

Attract values aligned visitors

Increase visitor and resident education

Raise Resilience

Objective: protect and improve the elements that will allow Kelowna to thrive even in the face of challenges

Improve connectivity and transportation

• Visitor volumes to experiences with purpose

• Off-season visitor numbers

• # of education initiatives and associated engagement metrics

• Resident sentiment

• Visitor sentiment

• Increased public transportation access

• Increased number (and length) of bike paths

• Increased ridership of public transport

• Increased ridership of bike paths

• Availability of ridesharing

Encourage the development of affordable housing

Protect the environment

Enhance Experiences

Objective: pursue placemaking as an opportunity to improve the visitor experience and quality of life for both visitors and residents

Develop and activate more public spaces

Pursue purpose based niche market segments

Develop and/or protect backstage experiences for residents

Develop Rich Ecosystems of Experiences

• Number of affordable housing units

• Reduced CO2 emissions

• Reduced environmental footprint

• Lake health

• Water use

• Resident sentiment

• Visitor numbers outside high volume areas

• Off-season visitation

• Volume of ‘experiences with purpose’

• Volume of niche market visitors

• Reputation within niche market segments

• Resident sentiment

• Number of resident-focussed initiatives

• Growth in off-season visitors

• Number of city areas where tourists will spend at least 4 hours

APPENDIX A

Niche validation research and recommendations

The niche recommendations are rooted in the region’s Place DNA®. Although the recommendations do not depart from the essence of the place, they are listed in order of increasing ambition based on the level of support and development required to realize their full potential.

Conscious culinary connoisseur

The existing agritourism offerings in this region provide a significant foundation to build upon. People in this niche love everything about food, including its cultivation, processing, presentation, sharing a meal together, and the sustainable practices at every step of the life cycle. They go on food adventures and immerse themselves in the heritage and story of a place. Agritourism activities include farm-to-table/farm-to-fork experiences, visiting farms and ranches, farmers markets, picking fruits, tasting wine, tending bees, and other pursuits.

Experiences

There are a number of existing experiences to build upon and highlight from this niche. This includes examples such as an agricultural centric cycling tour with Giro Okanagan and Sperling Vineyards, an organic vineyard that utilizes biodynamic principles.

Conclusions

• Already an established market in Kelowna that can be spotlighted further.

• Braggable experiences and products.

• Can be differentiated from similar offerings in the surrounding region by applying a sustainability and accessibility lens.

• Offerings that expand beyond the summer season.

• Culinary tourism is a key sector for DBC and Destination Canada moving forward.

• Compliments other Kelowna relevant niches such as accessible travel and cultural explorers.

• Fast-growing market - a recent report forecasts huge growth in culinary and agritourism (16.8% from 2020-2027).

ASSESSMENT

DNA alignment Experiences Maturity Reputation Value

Is the niche aligned to Kelowna’s Place DNA®?

Strong alignment with farming, markets/fruit stands, agriculture and natural assets.

What experiences can Kelowna offer this niche?

Well-known for orchards, vineyards, and a bounty of agricultural offerings.

Many of these experiences are not unique to Kelowna but the broader region.

Are supporting products and infrastructure in place?

Agritourism is well established with significant products and infrastructure.

What is the reputation of Kelowna in this niche?

Kelowna is already engaged with this niche. People talk favourably of the experiences on offer.

The opportunity lies in deeper storytelling by connecting individual experiences into a cultural or historical narrative.

High value, yearround, low-impact travellers?

Need to attract the right agritourists through sustainable experiences that connect the value chain of this space.

Avoid stockstandard tours that might attract a generic traveller.

Accessible travel

The needs of accessible travel align well with the characteristics of Kelowna, such as a gentle landscape, connected road infrastructure and paths that connect natural assets. Accessible travel can be viewed as a niche in itself, or a lens to apply across market segments. This is similar to the application of a low-impact traveller lens across various interest-based, psychographic and demographic segments. It is also an aspect of travel that is becoming an increasing necessity to support visitors and stay competitive. As Bill Forrester from Travability states, “Accessible Tourism is no longer about building ramps and accessible bathrooms. It is about building products and services for a large and rapidly growing market. This is no longer a niche, but rather, a segment that is approaching 25% of the total tourism spend.”

Experiences

There are a growing number of accessible experiences being developed and curated around BC. One example is a food and wine road trip for travellers with mobility challenges called “ Sip and savour in BC’s Okanagan: an accessible getaway”.

Conclusions

• Already a growing market in Kelowna.

• Braggable experiences and products.

• Current accessibility information is a valuable resource that can be built upon.

• Year-round offerings (mostly).

• Aligns with goals outlined by DBC and Destination Canada.

• Compliments other niches including culinary explorers and cultural explorers.

• Aligns with the values of the local community.

ASSESSMENT

DNA alignment Experiences Maturity Reputation Value

Is the niche aligned to Kelowna’s Place DNA®?

Aligns with key Place DNA® attributes such as easy, accessible, soft adventure, connected.

What experiences can Kelowna offer this niche?

The gentle landscape, driving routes, accessible beaches and lakes are advantageous.

Are supporting products and infrastructure in place?

There are many places that offer aligned products and infrastructure.

What is the reputation of Kelowna in this niche?

Kelowna is already engaged with this niche - content exists online. People talk favourably of the experiences on offer.

High value, yearround, low-impact travellers?

Yes. More research into challenges of winter for accessible travel needed.

Outdoor and cultural enthusiast

While this niche has roots in Kelowna’s Place DNA®, it will require the most support and development in order to flourish. For Outdoor & Cultural Explorers, a great trip provides a blend of nature activities and cultural experiences where simple luxuries are never far away. People in this niche love to dabble across a spectrum of interests within the categories of outdoor and cultural experiences. They seek activities that pair well together, such as a trail hike during the day and followed by local culinary delights or live music at night. They are sociable and immerse themselves in the stories and culture of the places they visit.

Experiences

Any pursuit to enhance this niche should empower Indigenous communities to lead the development and delivery of experiences. The Thompson Okanagan region is home to the Interior Salish’s Syilx, Secwepemc, and Nlaka’pamux Peoples, all of whom have rich cultures and stories. An experience that tells some of these stories through a nature based experience is a tour offered by Moccasin Trails

Conclusions

• Will attract visitors that respect the destination since they value the preservation and enhancement of the natural world and cultural heritage.

• These travellers will enjoy exploring a combination of cultural and outdoor activities.

• They seek out the best of both worlds, which currently only matches one strength or USP in this region (outdoor) - developing and highlighting more cultural experiences is key.

• Expansion of Indigenous experiences should be led by and in consultation with Indigenous communities. Changes need to be made before the cultural desires of this group can be met - building up Indigenous experiences, eco experiences, agritourism experiences, and any other experiences rooted in the history and stories of the region will be complementary.

ASSESSMENT

DNA alignment Experiences Maturity Reputation Value

Is the niche aligned to Kelowna’s Place DNA®?

It is aligned from a culture and values perspective but in terms of assets it is a bit of a stretch right now beyond food and wine.

What experiences can Kelowna offer this niche?

Cultural experiences that intersect with soft adventure tours, arts, and culinary experiences. Growth in cultural offerings needed.

Are supporting products and infrastructure in place?

Some offerings such as Indigenous tours but overall it is not that well established.

What is the reputation of Kelowna in this niche?

Kelowna is in the early stages of engaging with this niche.

High value, yearround, low-impact travellers?

Yes, there is significant potential for this segment to provide high value.