The inaugural board of the provincial destination marketing organization Destination BC has been named and the Sea to Sky corridor is represented with two appointments.
Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training Pat Bell made the announcement Thursday (Jan. 31) during a press conference in Vancouver.
"The appointment of this board is another step our government is taking to put tourism marketing back into the hands of industry,” Bell said in a press release. “In the BC Jobs Plan, we made a commitment to create a marketing organization that would increase accountability to tourism operators and to taxpayers. I'm delighted that our industry partners have selected board members with the expertise and experience to make that goal a reality."
General counsel and corporate secretary for Whistler Blackcomb Susan Tamiko Doi was named as one of the nine new board members along with Chief Gibby Jacob, who carries the hereditary title of Chief of the Squamish nation and has been an elected councillor since 1981.
The other board members are Chair Andrea Shaw, Gordon Fitzpatrick, Wendy Lisogar-Cocchia, Laird M. Miller, Loring Phinney, Robert Pratt and Sun Peak Mountain Resort Municipality Mayor Al Raine.
The board of the brand new organization is charged with oversight and operations of Destination BC, which is responsible for marketing the province as a tourist destination.
The board was chosen by the Minister’s Council on Tourism and the Tourism Industry Association of B.C.’s provincial destination marketing organization task force out of a shortlist based on 130 applications.
Destination BC was announced as the new Crown corporation to market the province in November after an industry led task force recommended the government move to a Crown corporation model.
Destination BC will officially take responsibility for operations on April 1, 2013 and for the first year will receive the full funding that government has used for tourism marketing.
After that funding will be set based on a percentage of annual sales tax activity and be included in legislation governing the corporation.
The government will approve the organization's goals, objectives and performance measures, service plans and service plan reports. A letter of expectation will establish a mandate and expectations of Destination BC, while government will provide guidelines for executive compensation and board remuneration as with other Crown corporations.
Organizational performance measures will be established related to administrative costs, stakeholder support, satisfaction surveys and tourism performance measure with relation to growth in visits and ratio of leveraging for marketing investments.
Destination BC's board will be required to establish a tourism marketing committee to advise it on priorities, performance indicators and a cost sharing formula to leverage the corporation's investments.
The committee will include three members from each of the six regional marketing associations in the province while performance expectation will be set out in formal contracts between the corporation and the regional organizations.
