Lillooet-Lytton Tourism Diversification Project

The Lillooet-Lytton Tourism Project, authored by BC Spaces for Nature Executive Director Ric Careless, was undertaken as one of the commitments flowing from the completion of the Lillooet Resource Management Plan. The mayors of Lillooet and Lytton, the BC Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management (MSRM), and the Wilderness Tourism Association (WTA) agreed to collaboratively investigate the role that tourism could play in developing the economies of Lillooet and Lytton. The WTA is a trade organization that links together the full range of nature tourism sectors active in BC and specializes in assessing tourism resource potentials, it was agreed that it could play a key role in assisting Lillooet and Lytton to develop a pragmatic tourism strategy. As well, the communities were especially interested in WTA’s abilities to link them with potential investors in the industry.

The purpose of the Lillooet-Lytton Tourism Project is to:

• Identify the role that tourism can play in bringing new revenues, jobs, residents, and investments to the Lillooet-Lytton area
• Identify tourism opportunities with an emphasis on frontcountry tourism in the Lillooet–Lytton area and with linkages to backcountry tourism in the surrounding area
• Explore how tourism can function as a catalyst to enhance the amenities of Lillooet–Lytton (i.e. golfing, fishing, etc.) that in turn could encourage new economic activities within these communities for other sectors (i.e. new economy workers, early retirees, etc), and
• Serve as an example to demonstrate how similar heartland communities can utilize tourism to help diversify their economies.