Skip to content

Opportunity is a game changer

The following letter was sent to the Town of Gibsons and copied to Coast Reporter Sunshine Coast Tourism (SCT) would like to voice its support for the rezoning and development permit applications for The George.

The following letter was sent to the Town of Gibsons and copied to Coast Reporter

Sunshine Coast Tourism (SCT) would like to voice its support for the rezoning and development permit applications for The George.

The proposed hotel and conference centre creates a step-change in product available on the Coast in terms of capacity and services offered.

In 2009-2010, SCT carried out a meetings and retreats project, which specifically sought to increase visitation to the Coast during the off-season by branding the Coast as a corporate retreat destination. This project was paradigm shifting in thinking of the Coast not only as a leisure tourism destination, but also as an easily accessible corporate retreat destination just outside a major metropolitan centre.

Key messages centred on creativity, connecting with team members and clients, and discovering new ideas when taking the opportunity to get out of your daily surroundings. It leveraged our strengths of outdoor adventure and a rich cultural scene and connected those assets to a corporate audience. Resulting collateral and insights from this project are just waiting for a business partner like the proposed hotel and conference centre to take things another significant step forward.

This proposal has the opportunity to be a game-changer for Gibsons in the same way larger resorts were seven or eight years ago for Pender Harbour. The George will create jobs and will create spin-off business to other local tourism and retail sector businesses. Most importantly, these new customers will bring outside dollars into our community to be recirculated many times by local businesses.

SCT is the official destination marketing organization representing 275 member businesses from various sectors of the tourism industry.

We are confident that you will weigh all the relevant factors in this application and will come to the best decision for the town and the greater Sunshine Coast region.

Sunshine Coast Tourism board of directors