Dozens of local business owners and managers made their way to the Bridge Bistro last Thursday evening for Tourism Fernie’s networking event and open house.
Among the crowd of attendees was Mayor Mary Giuliano, photographer Jamie Hamilton, Coun. Jon Levesque, Co-owner of the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Martin Brock and Sparwood Buds & Blooms owner Sherry Benko.
Guests were given the opportunity to mingle and network through a crowd of nearly 50 different local business owners, while enjoying appetizers served by CP Catering.
To commence the nights speeches, Executive Officer for Tourism Fernie Jikke Gyorki introduced guest speakers Abi Moore, from Fernie Brewing Company Growth & Success and Mike McPhee, an active member of Destination BC & Community Tourism.
Showcasing Destination BC’s new tourism video, ‘The Wild Within,’ McPhee commended the video for capturing B.C.’s beautiful landscape from a more emotional place.
McPhee noted that the clip embraces the vastness of the province’s mountains while still highlighting the beauty of its landscapes during cloudy days.
Following the clip showing, McPhee spoke about tourism in general.
With one in 11 jobs around the world focused on the tourism industry, McPhee noted that Fernie, as an active tourism community, needs to group together in order to further promote travel and tourism throughout the area as it continues to become more and more competitive around the globe.
“We need to come together as a community like we never have and plan for the future,” said McPhee. “The stakeholders need to talk, we need to plan for the future in order to compete in this highly competitive industry.”