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Whistler's sustainability advantage: the Whistler Centre for Sustainability

Executive Director Whistler Centre for Sustainability Whistler has made incredible strides on its journey towards sustainability. As a community, it has much to share with the world, but also much to learn.

Executive Director

Whistler Centre for Sustainability

 

Whistler has made incredible strides on its journey towards sustainability. As a community, it has much to share with the world, but also much to learn. Whistler can take big ideas and make them real. We dreamt of hosting the Winter Games and we did it - in partnership, but always led by our community values as articulated in Whistler2020.

However, as our post-Games winter season approaches, the key question in everyone's mind is how many room nights we're going to sell. If our average occupancy rate sits at 54 per cent (with lots of room for growth), our community wants to know why protecting biodiversity will help put heads in beds.

It's because a robust and vibrant economy can only thrive in a healthy, functioning environment and supported by a strong and just society - that's what we mean by sustainability.  It is not only in the fact that we need to protect the natural areas and inhabitants that make our spectacular resort community a successful tourism destination, or that "green" or "responsible" tourism is a competitive advantage: the reality is our tourism markets are beginning to expect this from tourism operators, services and resorts. And if we don't understand and embrace this inter-connectedness, we will start falling behind - never mind lead.

In addressing concerns around our community's economic viability and how businesses will fare in the upcoming winter season, the question then should be: how do we build and sustain our tourism economy to ensure the long-term economic, environmental and social well-being of our community?

The answer is sustainability - it's our differentiator and will become our competitive advantage, if we figure it out soon enough. Whistler is already recognized as a leader in community sustainability planning and action among local governments - witness the number of local government-focused conferences hosted in Whistler over the last year, like the annual meeting by the Union of B.C. Municipalities and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in 2009. Now we need to penetrate the tourism market in the same way.

Rachel Dodds, director of sustaining tourism, speaking to the Tourism Whistler AGM in the summer on "eco" consumerism, told the audience that consumers, in Whistler's case, guests, are increasingly seeking out more sustainable, 'green' and responsible tourism choices. Peter Yesawich, of Y Partnership, a New York-based company that researches tourism trends and markets travel, leisure and entertainment, spoke at another Tourism Whistler event last week, reiterating a growing demand and expectation for environmentally responsible tourism choices.

But just recycling in hotel rooms isn't going to cut it. Whistler needs to lead and innovate in sustainability practices. Given the enormous challenges we face in the current economic climate, now, more than ever, is the need for Whistler to look deep into our collective souls and figure out how to really embed sustainability into daily operations that will differentiate ourselves as a tourism destination and build our competitive advantage.

Whistler2020, our sustainability plan and process, articulates a successful and sustainable future for our community, and it is these visions that guide us in developing strategies and actions that move us towards our desired future.  Ultimately, Whistler2020 is the framework that helps us become a sustainable resort community, which includes reaching and sustaining viable hotel room occupancy levels.

The good news is that we already have a head start. Although we are not yet a sustainable community, it is this purposeful and candid journey that we've committed to through Whistler2020 and beyond that is being increasingly recognized, and we're attracting more and more attention for our achievements. There are few other communities in North America where sustainability tours are requested by groups ranging from delegates from an international conference of environmental health officers to elected officials around the country.

Recognizing the increasing need and potential to strengthen and promote sustainability in Whistler, the idea of a centre for sustainability was created.  With a mission of "To lead communities and tourism toward a sustainable future," the Whistler Centre for Sustainability opened its doors two years ago to lead and support Whistler in its sustainability efforts, to share Whistler's learning and experiences with other communities, and to bring best practices from other communities back home to learn from. With seed funding from the Province through hotel tax, the Centre is building a value-added tourism offering: come to Whistler to learn about and experience sustainability practices on the ground!

Not to say we have all the answers. Part of our story is talking about our own journey - that we are not yet a sustainable community, but we are trying to and are committed to getting there, and that we want to share what we've learned with others who are on their own journey, as well as wanting to learn from other communities. That story resonates and positions us as leaders and partners. And as more communities and organizations struggle with how to "do" sustainability, more people will be looking to Whistler for advice and learning opportunities.

So the Centre will provide definite benefits to Whistler - some tangible and some not-so-tangible. It will generate, and already has generated, room nights through its activities of hosting learning events here. It has led a number of tours that have brought people to Whistler, many for the first time, who have left with wonderful impressions of the community and its commitments to the environment - some of these impressions will translate into decisions for the next or future family vacation.

To assist the business community, the Centre recently secured a grant from Environment Canada to launch iSH i FT BUSINESS : a Whistler2020 Take Action Challenge. iSH i FT is a social marketing based program that aims to shift tourism business practices through training, support and one-on-one assistance in the development and implementation of a sustainability plan, including customized measurable targets and performance indicators.

iSH i FT will include sector-based cohort workshops, and a speaker series open to the public.  Businesses and organizations will be able to build and incorporate sustainability into their daily operations, and start profiling and marketing their sustainability actions, thereby continuing to increase Whistler's reputation in sustainability practices. While iSH i FT will start with thirty-two participating organizations, the goal is to eventually reach all businesses in Whistler, as well as setting best practices for tourism businesses beyond Whistler.

A large part of the Centre's mandate - and its business model - is to assist other communities in their journeys toward sustainability. By ensuring more communities commit to sustainability planning and implementation, not only does that move us towards a more liveable world, but working with other communities enables the Centre to earn revenues to support its work in Whistler. Here are a few things that the Centre has been doing that benefits Whistler by building its reputation as a sustainability leader and successful resort community.

Resort Community Collaborative

The Collaborative is a network of the 13 (now 14, with the addition of Sun Peaks) resort-designated communities in B.C. created four years ago to share concerns and solutions of resort communities, as well as to strengthen their relationship with the provincial government. The Centre assists the Collaborative in organizing and facilitating their annual meetings. Based on the rigorous Whistler2020 monitoring and reporting system, the Centre developed a common performance measurement system for the Collaborative communities to more effectively and consistently report back to the Province on hotel tax expenditures on their tourism development projects, which would therefore help to justify a continuation of the funding program. The provincial government has indicated in their 2010/11 budget that, although the hotel room tax is eliminated with the introduction of the HST, the funding for resort municipalities will continue.

To further support the resort communities - and other small communities that don't have the resources to undertake an integrated community sustainability planning (ICSP) process as comprehensive as Whistler's - the Centre has developed a Quick Start ICSP; a basic ICSP, again based on Whistler2020, and providing the building blocks upon which to expand and build a more comprehensive plan. Five resort communities have signed onto this project and will be developing their own ICSPs assisted by the Centre. Strengthening the Resort Collaborative will ultimately strengthen Whistler as a resort community.

 

Energy Leadership

The Centre is also sharing Whistler's learning and leadership in energy management through several contracts: conducting a community energy baseline study for the Lil'wat First Nations; developing a corporate energy management plan for the Bulkley Nechako Regional District; and guiding and facilitating a task force on energy resiliency for the Squamish Lillooet Regional District, the first in Canada.

 

Policy Innovation

The Centre assisted the City of Williams Lake with the development of its ICSP, based on Whistler2020, which won the Federation of Canadian Municipalities award for sustainable communities planning. City Council and Mayor also adopted a "Sustainability Charter" by which corporate operations are guided, and now the Centre is using the ICSP sustainability commitments to update the Official Community Plan, one of the first processes of its kind to be done in Canada.

The Centre is well-positioned to provide the innovation and leadership in sustainability for our community, and to apply here what it has learned elsewhere. Whistler just needs to be ready and open to the offering that is its for the taking: to continue to lead in community and tourism sustainability. Whistler can be that leader - one that walks the talk, and opens the door for people to come and learn, play and stay.  And the Centre is here to support that journey. Now's our chance.

 

 



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