Tourism Task Force

The Issue

The international tourism industry is reckoning with the challenges created by over-tourism around the world.  This dynamic is seen in Canmore through our complex relationship with visitors and the tourism industry.  Tourism is clearly our primary economic driver, yet we do not have a clear vision or community alignment and agreement around what this means.  We enjoy the incredible restaurants and recreation amenities, but we have issues with traffic congestion and impacts on affordability.  We worry about wildlife conflict and the loss of special places just for locals, yet we love the business opportunities and thriving arts and culture opportunities.

The Vision

The ultimate vision of tourism is our community is well summarized in the pdf Tourism Canmore Kananaskis Community Tourism Strategic Plan (51.65 MB) , which was approved by Town Council in 2019: 

“By 2024, Canmore Kananaskis will be fully committed to a triple bottom line approach to tourism development and this will be well received by visitors. A high degree of trust will have been built up between stakeholders and several high priority sustainable tourism development goals will have been achieved.” 

The Challenge

The challenge is well summarized by this description in the  pdf Tourism Canmore Kananaskis Community Tourism Strategic Plan (51.65 MB)  for the need for change:

“There needs to be a purposeful and deliberate effort on the part of the community and businesses to find common ground and work toward a shared vision for tourism. Failure to take action and work collaboratively could result in over tourism and degradation of the core value proposition of the community. The impacts of this could include decreased quality of life for residents, negative environmental impacts and reduced viability for tourism businesses. If the region chooses to act proactively, it has an immense opportunity to become an iconic, internationally known destination and a leader in sustainable tourism development.”

This speaks directly to the need to create what the international tourism industry calls a “social license to operate.”  To truly be successful, tourism needs to work at being embraced by the community.  This happens when tourism industries make meaningful and concerted efforts to attract visitors who are tied to the community in ways that fit with what the community values.  

Responsibilities

Over the next 18 months (approximately) the Tourism Task Force will lead a community engagement initiative with a broad cross section of the community, with the aim of finding common ground between the tourism industry and the community to work towards creating a shared vision for tourism.  The task force will establish a Terms of Reference (which will be posted here) and budget for approval before the end of 2020. 

Meetings

The task force meeting schedule has not been determined yet. 

The task force is Council-led, but is not a formal council committee, so meetings are not open to the public. Updates and recommendations will be posted here as they become available. 

Members

Representatives from diverse and broad cross-sections of our community are needed. The list of applicants will be approved by Council in September.

Contact

For more information, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.