Saturday, Sept. 27, was World Tourism Day, and the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association played a special role on the global stage this year.
The Cariboo-based tourism organization participated in 24 Hours of Travel Innovation, a global World Tourism Day event, to share how travel can be beneficial to both communities and the planet.
“By sharing our story, we hope to inspire other destinations to embrace innovative approaches that contribute to a responsible tourism model that is beneficial to local communities,” Shannon Lansdowne, chair of the CCCTA, said in a press release.
The CCCTA is among 27 global tourism leaders to be featured in the event, which shared case studies of destinations across the globe where tourism has brought positive environmental, cultural, social and economic change.
This was the second edition of the 24 Hours of Travel Innovation event hosted by Destination Think, a travel agency founded in 2009 to build a tourism industry which has positive impacts on tourist destinations. The agency’s Collective includes members from five countries, as well as two members in South Africa. Within Canada, members include Banff and Lake Louise, Alta., Cape Breton, N.S., the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast and more.
In this year’s event, the CCCTA talked about how tourism operators are contributing to regenerative improvements in rural B.C. such as habitat restoration and tree planting, and how that can lead to positive environmental and community impacts.
“I believe that travel delivers meaningful benefits in multiple ways including through education, reducing racism, growing cultural awareness, supporting local businesses, contributing to community infrastructure and providing the revenues needed to invest in important regenerative work like habitat clean-up, restoration and regeneration,” said Amy Thacker, CEO of the CCCTA.
CCCTA is a regional destination management organization working towards sustainable tourism with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture & Sport, Destination British Columbia, Destination Canada, the BC Regional Tourism Secretariat and industry partners in the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast region. The region has been recognized as a Biosphere Certified Destination by the Responsible Tourism Institute, and is described by the CCCTA as ‘A Land Without Limits.’
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