Tourism Fernie presented its yearly financial report and announced its new board of directors at its 2024 AGM on April 4.
Community leaders and business owners convened at Best Western Plus to network and get a recap of the previous year’s projects and milestones.
The event began with a warm welcome from Tourism Fernie chair Reto Barrington and opening remarks from Deputy Mayor Kevin McIsaac.
The Tourism Fernie team provided an overview of major projects that are underway and completed, the five year 2024-29 plan, and future plans for the coming year.
Tourism Fernie was the winner of the Community Project Award by B.C Economic Development Association for its AmbassadorWILD and sustainable tourism initiatives, and it got over $200,000 in new grant revenues for sustainable tourism projects last year, which it used to purchase an new EV truck for the AmbassadorWILD program team.
The AmbassadorWILD program has been involved with many environmental initiatives. The team played a role in installing cameras at Hieko’s Trail and along the Nature Conservancy of Canada section of the Trans-Canada Trail to monitor wildlife populations.
They also helped establish a designated camping area along Heiko’s Trail to reduce camping at high traffic bear corridors.
In the coming year, Tourism Fernie will partner with the Regional District of East Kootenay for project improvements on the Elko and Morissey river access sites along the Elk River.
Overall, Tourism Fernie had a successful year in 2023. Accommodation revenues in 2023 were higher than ever before at $37,921,303, an increase of 26 per cent from the previous year.
Its marketing impact had 293,491,804 impressions and its website had 525,961 visits that year and 43,000 monthly visits.
The 2024-25 board of directors was officially announced at the event. The group includes area manager of Fernie Alpine Resort and Slopeside Lodge Mark Ormandy, owner of Fernie Fox Hotel Jeremiah Pauw, realtor Alan Young, owner of Fernie RV Resort Reto Barrington, owner of Fernie Distillers Andrew Hayden, manager of Red Tree Lodge Jon Ward, manager of Island Lake Catskiing Kirsten Madsen, manager of Lizard Creek Lodge Wade Barkman, and owner of Ski Base Jeff Johnson.
Keynote speakers at the event included COO of Pursuit Collections Stuart Back, and director of hospitality for Canadian Western Trust. Back spoke to the value of experiential tourism and Fehr provided an update on Fernie Lodging Company, a business that his company recently acquired from Mike Delich.
Andy Cohen and Randal Macnair recognized Delich for decades of valuable service to the community at the event.
READ MORE: Visionary Fernie businessman Mike Delich honoured for decades of community service