Managing Visitor Growth in our Wild, Natural Places
We want sustainable tourism growth in BC and BC's appeal is our natural places, wilderness and wildlife. Once you open the door to more visitors, there is a threat of losing what attracts so many visitors. How do we balance the increase in demand for visitation with the interests and needs of many players and perspectives? A expert panel will highlight case studies, social media's role, considerations and what you can do now to take action towards managing growth in your destination.
And the Presenters...
Scott Shaw-MacLaren
Scott Shaw-MacLaren is a Resource Manager for the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development in the Sea to Sky District. He has worked in the management of land use since 2004 and spends much of the time on outdoor recreation and tourism issues. Scott is a Registered Professional Forester and has lived in Squamish for 12 years, personally witnessing a massive growth in tourism and recreation in the area. When not at the office, Scott spends his time travelling through BC and beyond by sailboat, small aircraft or mountain bike.
Rochelle Turner
Rochelle is the Research Director at the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and is responsible for the design and execution of the research that underpins the work of the Council. The policy and economic research undertaken by WTTC ensures that solid evidence of the global economic and social strength of the sector is available and that recommendations and advocacy to governments are supported by rigorous methodologies.
Rochelle has spent her whole career conducting consumer, economic, market and policy research within the Travel & Tourism sector. She has held senior roles at Which?, the UK's consumer organisation, TUI Travel and MORI (now Ipsos-MORI) where she was the lead for leisure research.
Robyn Hanson
Robyn is a social media and marketing expert with deep roots in BC's tourism industry. Having led innovative marketing campaigns for destination marketing organizations around the world, Robyn is extremely proud to be a part of the Destination British Columbia team.
As Global Social Media Specialist, Robyn brings Destination BC's global social media strategy to life. She is a leader on the social media team in day-to-day management of the organization's global channels, with more than 1 million followers, 4.5 million uses of #exploreBC, and an extremely engaged community.
When she's not sharing the story of BC with the world, Robyn can be found connecting with nature, exploring new breweries, or photographing her adventures around BC and beyond.
Susan Rybar
Susan is a Tourism Strategist and Creative Marketer who brings more than 25 years of marketing, strategy development and business management experience. She has been involved in all aspects of destination management, including strategic planning, marketing, visitor experience, destination development, product development, government programs, funding, governance, research, adventure tourism, heritage, parks, human resources, customer service training and visitor services. Over 45 plans and projects have been developed and implemented by Vardo Creative Inc.
Susan is a leading thinker in destination development and has worked with Destination BC on creating the provincial destination development program and developing provincial, regional and local area strategies in cooperation with Indigenous people, residents, businesses, economic development agencies, government and the tourism industry.
