Dear BCLCA Member:

YOUR opinion matters! 

We need your help in completing the survey poll on the future of the BCLCA Ideas Forum. As you are aware, we had to postpone the fall 2022 event due to low registration numbers and we need your input to help us choose the dates and format that would encourage you to attend.

The Ideas Forum is an annual conference designed to provide BC Lodging and Campground Association members with a learning and networking opportunity. The Forum is attended by owners, managers and staff of Campgrounds, RV Parks, Lodging, Glamping, and Resorts along with key suppliers to the sector in British Columbia.

To participate in the Ideas Forum survey poll - which takes less than 5 minutes to complete - please go to:

We want to hear from you as YOUR opinion matters! 

In 2023 we are looking forward to welcoming Americans and European campers in larger numbers than we have seen in recent years, and they will need information on camping choices and opportunities in BC. The BCLCA Board has therefore decided to publish the popular Super Camping/Select Lodging guide in 2023/24 so that these campers can find your business.

Anne Philley has been contacting members regarding a listing and has probably already been in touch with you.

The guide offers a choice of two different listings, basic $250 and enhanced $500. Both formats include a photo. 80,000 copies will be printed for the Spring of 2023 along with the publication of a flipbook version and updating the companion mobile SCBC App listings. All properties who purchase a listing are also located by number on the pull-out map which is cross-referenced with their listing in the guide.

If you would like to list in the upcoming Super Camping/Select Lodging Guide and be included on the App, please contact Anne Philley at anne@bclca.com.

21 members attended the BCLCA Annual General Meeting (AGM) on October 18th via zoom video call – to see a recording of the presentations and the cracker barrel please click here. Minutes will be available later. The AGM meeting was not recorded but the binder can be downloaded from the members partner extranet.

Walt Judas, CEO Tourism Industry Association of BC (TIABC) gave a presentation on the changing political landscape, both municipally and provincially. Walt then highlighted three TIABC polices applicable to our sector followed by three asks of the BC Government Finance Department. Rounding out the presentation was a section on three challenges to tourism growth and three tourism opportunities to embrace.

Shane Devenish, Executive Director, Canadian Camping and RV Council (CCRVC) discussed happenings from a national perspective. First Shane talked about CCRVC’s top five priorities, before discussing some of the challenges for Canadian Campgrounds. He also reviewed RV retail statistics and the forecast reduction in shipments in 2023. In closing, Shane discussed three recommendations posed to the federal 2023 pre-budget submission to the Standing Committee on Finance.

Following the two presentations Vice President’s Jeff Kirkman, Lodging and Marilyn Stone, Camping hosted a Cracker Barrel to answer members questions. Items discussed:

To see a recording of the presentations and the cracker barrel please click here.

As of October 6, 2022, businesses in Canada were permitted to pass along interchange fees they pay to settle credit cards with Visa and MasterCard. These are the fees you are charged to process merchant credit card transactions—to customers in the form of a surcharge. 

Interchange fees are set by credit card providers such as Visa and MasterCard and charged to businesses for all credit card transactions. Until October 6th, businesses had to absorb the cost of these fees. Now businesses are permitted to recoup this lost revenue by surcharging customers up to 2.4% on credit card transactions.

Should you choose to surcharge your customers, you are required to provide 30 days notice to credit card providers. The amount you can surcharge is capped at 2.4% or the amount it costs you to accept a credit card, whichever is less. This amount must be tied to the decision to pay with a credit card rather than a product or service. Be sure to educate your customers and be clear that the surcharge is only for credit card transactions and that customers can avoid the additional fee by using debit or cash.

Click here to learn more. 

Have you made plans to introduce a credit card surcharge? Let us know. Contact me at jpenny@bclca.com.

Over the past year, with your generous donations and support, we have raised almost $8,000 for Care Camps. $600 were raised from speaker gifts at the BCLCA Ideas Forum, individual member donations totaled $1,200 and the balance of $6,175 was generated from the online Auction 22 held in May. A big thank you to the members and others that donated prizes for the auction.

The funds raised will help send another 4 children to a specialized oncology camp – a place where these kids can forget about the chemo, the radiation, and all the hard stuff that comes with cancer…. and just be a child again.

BC Lodging and Campgrounds Association (BCLCA) is proud to support Care Camps of Canada. Working together, for the past two years, BC Care Camps supporters have helped raise $11,715.00 and counting.

If you would like to participate by donating an item to Auction 23, please email Darlene@bclca.com for more information.

Read more - https://www.tourism-review.com/camping-vacations-in-europe-will-be-more-expensive-in-2023-news12738

Editor’s Note – At the BCLCA AGM cracker barrel on October 18^th an informal poll found members are planning on raising rates by 5 – 10% to cover inflationary pressures.