Fostering a New Tourism Sector Through a Buy-Local Lens

In the absence of new investment, local economies go stagnant and towns deteriorate.  Towns with active tourism marketing organizations understand visitors bring new money into circulation in the local economy, which not only support existing businesses, but also helps attract new investments to aid in revitalizing the local economy.

Downhill skiing in the winter months serves as the primary attraction for the communities of Trail, Rossland, Fruitvale, Montrose, and Warfield. The success of drawing visitors during this limited season often hinges on weather conditions. In the absence of a regional destination marketing organization, Community Futures Greater Trail took the initiative to promote year-round visitation by establishing a new tourism sector based on our world-class Columbia River sportfishing.

With over 1,000 fish per kilometer, this 56-kilometer stretch of tailwater is an undiscovered mecca for avid fly fishers who travel to fish. Its abundance of caddis and insect hatches, along with its eddies, pools, riffles, and trout-filled runs, make it an untapped resource waiting to be discovered.

A few months prior to the devastating impact of COVID-19 travel restrictions on British Columbia’s tourism economy, a highly informative fishing portal called WeSportFish.com was developed and successfully launched. Due to the pandemic, our “come fish with us” tagline soon became “Come fish with us when it is safe to do so”, and promoting the new tourism asset was curtailed.

With the financial support of ETSI-BC, Community Futures collaborated with the Trail & District Chamber of Commerce and collaborated with local businesses and media to initiate the Beyond the River campaign. This buy-local initiative centered on supporting local businesses and engaging residents to help promote this tourism rich resource from a local perspective.

The partnership aligns well with the Trail & District Chamber of Commerce goal of creating a regional tourism marketing entity, along with Community Futures goal of building a new tourism sector around sport fishing to attract investment. “Beyond the River enables us to showcase the value of tourism to businesses and engage them in a collaborative promotion of the resource.”

The campaign encouraged residents to obtain a WeSportFish.com sticker and unique code word from a participating merchant.  By entering the code-word online, residents could win a prize from that particular merchant. Residents who included a picture of where they stuck-it, or included an itinerary of how to spend an amazing day “Beyond the River” were also entered to win the Grand Prize consisting of gifts from all merchants, along with other donated gifts. 

The campaign greatly increased regional awareness of the asset, and will aid in future collaboration between the business community and economic development practitioners as the region discovers the value of tourism and works toward developing a regional destination marketing entity.