INSIGHTS
There is some indication that Tourism benefits by some residents were diminished due to questions and concerns about visitor capacity and the availability and affordability of housing in Fernie.
A Fernie Heritage Strategy was recently completed. The community engagement undertaken for this strategy resulted in the following top 4 areas of importance related to community heritage values:
• Fernie’ s natural, wild setting and outdoor recreation and access.
• Fernie’ s history and heritage( including built heritage) and Fernie’ s built form and public realm.
• Fernie’ s community and local arts and culture.
• The value of Fernie’ s tourism, economy and industry.
SUMMARY OF COMMUNITY & INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVES
Consistency in the challenges and shared across different groups:
Affordability and availability of housing were prominent themes across all of the engagement activities and cited by residents, businesses and organizations alike. There were differences on opinion on who’ s( business, local government, and / or market) issue it is to solve.
Overcrowding and / or capacity issues experienced at peak times or at more sensitive( ie local ecosystems) locations such as natural attractions, trails, river put-ins / take-outs, restaurants, facilities, accommodations, roads, parking lots, events and other.
Potential loss of community / small town feel was noted often and commonly in a response to capacity challenges, but also due to the behaviour of some visitors.
Access and infrastructure needs / challenges when recreating on private land. Old or lacking infrastructure to access / enjoy local rivers, trails, winter activities, natural attractions.
Variable / seasonal visitation throughout the year presents challenges for organizations serving the visitor with respect to providing full-time or year-round employment and ramping services up and down.
Industry is generally collaborating well on tourism, however there could be some improvements.
Strengths include collaboration amongst tourism / business member organizations, communications from these groups to members and connections between businesses who work together as strengths.
Improvements areas include reducing overlapping roles, more consistent branding, coordinated emergency event messaging, and the need to continue to enhance collaboration with Fernie Alpine Resort.
Initiatives underway such as the heritage plan, as well as existing plans such as the trails master plan, signage plan, parking study and highway transportation study along with funding such as the MRDT and RMI could be coordinated to help implement the TMP.
Common communication and branding efforts should be enhanced to ensure consistency in messaging.