With its incredible landscape and eclectic mix of shops and restaurants, Pemberton is emerging as a tourism destination. But just how much money the booming industry generates isn't clear.
A new study—commissioned by Tourism Pemberton—aims to address that issue, by tapping a wide range of stakeholder businesses, from adventure-tourism businesses to Airbnb operators.
"The more information we can get, the deeper we can get into this," said Mark Mendonca, president of Tourism Pemberton.
Pacific Analytics Inc. is carrying out the study with the results expected in the spring.
Mendonca said that it is important for operators to participate, adding that individual company information will only be used in aggregate and will not be available for any other businesses to see. Companies, he added, will be protected by a confidentiality agreement.
Pacific Analytics was hired for $7,500 to conduct the study. Tourism Pemberton has also aside $2,500 to $3,000 for marketing to assist the study. The project was made possible thanks to a grant from the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD).
There is a strong need for up-to-date tourism numbers, said Mendonca, as the most recent estimate is based on a 2015 study looking at revenue generated by Pemberton's thriving wedding sector.
Mendonca added that he hopes that the report will help Tourism Pemberton reach its goal of achieving long-term sustainable funding. The organization is held afloat thanks to a $4,000 annual contribution from the Village of Pemberton (VOP), which is matched by the SLRD, he said. The VOP grant funding is "at the edge of stopping," said Mendonca, because the specific fund that it draws from has a limit to how many years it can be applied.
"This potentially is the last year for that funding," he said, adding that he hopes the report will illustrate the importance of the tourism sector to local government.
"That's really the goal here, to provide to the Village of Pemberton numbers that will be taken seriously enough that we can be taken a little more seriously," he said, noting that financing is challenging for the VOP given its small tax base.
To help it secure long-term funding from other government levels, Tourism Pemberton recently hired Cadence Strategies, a Whistler-based consultancy firm. It hired the company with a $10,000 grant from the BC Rural Dividend Program.
Mendonca added that he believes that around 50 per cent of his business at Grimm's Gourmet and Deli comes from tourism, representing a significant jump from when he opened over a decade ago.
"I'm going to venture to say that at this point, we've seen a steady increase of somewhere in the neighbourhood of six to seven per cent (a year)," he said, explaining the rise in tourism business over the years.
So, is there room for growth?
"Absolutely, you've got three million people going into Whistler (annually)," he said.
"And as much as they like to ski and all the other things they like to do they always take a day off and explore. There is an opportunity for massive growth in Pemberton."
