Morice Land and Resource Management Plan
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- Market Analysis
- Recommendations to the LRMP table
- Snowmobile Tours and Destination Snowmobiling
Location Analysis
Market AnalysisHouse boating can be a destination tool in partnership with tour wholesalers if guided lake tours become part of the operation. Timeshare vacation visitors are often attracted for long-term stays, economic impacts would be similar to a Cottage Country economy. These “Vacation Residents” and their friends often return year after year exploring new experiences, and perhaps retirement options in the area. The house boating industry in the Sushwap greatly benefits from being located along a major travel route. Marketing of this product occurs in a large population base. Most of this population lives within a few hours travel time of the Sushwap, making it a suitable week-end attraction. A similar type venture established on Babine Lake would face difficulties associated with product marketing. With the exception of a small potion of the local population most of the clientele would have to travel long distances. Marketing of the Babine House Boating Industry would have to be focused towards the destination tourist, those individuals or families who are interested in spending a week or two at one location Recommendations to the LRMP tablePresently, it is doubtful that Morice could provide the necessary infrastructure for enticing a houseboat developer to the area, given its lack of urban areas within close proximity and short season. However in the long term, retaining Babine Lake as a prime sports fishery, as well as a scenic attraction could capture the interest of recreational property developers, who might provide house boating as a component of a more diversified operation. Recommendation - Retain a proactive management policy for enhancement of the Babine Lake Sports Fishery. Recommendation - Manage areas within tourism corridors in order to maintain positive visual impact. Recommendation - Provide opportunities for public access and landing points (anchorages, and marine campgrounds) along the Babine Lakeshore. Recommendation - Plan to maintain a public trail system that links lakefront areas with natural and private attractions. Recommendation - Consider a long-term integrated tourism development strategy along the lakefront that includes Granisle. Snowmobile Tours and Destination SnowmobilingOverviewDestination snowmobiling can be defined as an area where visitors can snowmobile within a daytrip time frame or overnight within a weekend touring excursion. Destination snowmobiling can include guiding where snowmobiles are provided within a package price; or visitors are provided with maps for well marked trails and can rent snowmobiles; or self-guided excursions where visitors bring there own snowmobiles with them. S   nowmobiling appeals to people of all ages but most studies reveal that snowmobilers generally ride close to home. Daytrips typically consists of traveling 50 to 120 km (up to an hour and a half) to favourite riding areas and trails. Touring is growing in popularity where visitors spend several nights traveling, shopping, dining and sleeping, snowmobile excursions are mixed in with the travel experience. Generally, visitors travel 200 – 300 km in order to participate in such excursions.
The following are the key ingredients for establishing successful destination snowmobiling:
Snowmobiling in rural areas generally has solid community infrastructure due to the fact that many local residents become avid snowmobilers themselves. They actively organize clubs in order to develop and groom trails; this substantial investment in a snowmobile encourages many to invest time into participating with the development of the sport. In addition, snowmobile dealers encouraging further sales and service become leaders in developing infrastructure. This can make for a positive community-based environment for building a tourism initiative. Within the Morice region, significant headway has been made to provide area snowmobilers with prime recreational opportunities available around Houston including:
From Smithers and Granisle, further recreational opportunities exist at:
Any snowmobiling areas within the Morice region can be considered successful due to the efforts of the Houston Snowmobile Club. In addition, excursion links closely exist with the Smithers/Telkwa area where the Smithers Snowmobile Association is the main proponent. The Onion; The Microwave; and The Dome represent the areas best “branded” as regional snowmobiling destinations used by local residents, and tourists visiting friends and family in the area. Moving into a more diversified tourism strategy would require Morice to attract weekend self-guided visitors from Prince George and Prince Rupert; and multi-day guided or self-guided visitors from Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and the northern United States. A key ingredient to any tourism initiative would be the establishment of day-use warming huts, or an overnight hut-to-hut network. These huts are necessary to visitor comfort, and will contribute to adding value to the overall tourism product offering, and to marketing campaigns. Some First Nations groups on the coast are exploring the hut-to-hut concept in association with sea kayak excursions. First Nations in the Morice area would be well suited for a similar type of operation for snowmobilers. Destination snowmobiling tends to challenge the community with key land-use planning issues with regards to multi-use and habitat issues. Often, designated snowmobiling areas do not tend to mix with backcountry skiing so these two different activities require different use areas. However, both compliment certain summer activities. Snowmobiling in the winter compliments ATV use in the summer while cross-country skiing compliments hiking and mountain biking. Download 1.06 Mb. Share with your friends:
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