1. Regional Tourism Sector Business Retention & Expansion
CONNECT  UNDERSTAND  MOBILIZE
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Regional Tourism Sector
Business Retention & Expansion
October 5, 2016
Hello, welcome, thank you for having me speak at today’s event.
Sarah Breen
Columbia Basin Rural Development Institute
Selkirk College Applied Research & Innovation Centre

2. Columbia Basin Rural Development Institute
“Promote evidence-based decisions that lead to enhanced regional well-being through research and information provision”
Projects include:
State of the Basin
Climate Change Adaptation
Asset Based Rural Development
Poverty Reduction
Economic Development
Brief overview of the rural development institute and the work we do:
Multi-year partnership between CBT and Selkirk College to support informed decision-making
Only college-based, rural RDI in Canada
Basin & Boundary catchment area
Broad and integrated research focus
Regional approach - addressing regional needs & opportunities

3. What is Business Retention & Expansion?
Ongoing cooperative effort between business, local government, and support organizations
Focused on identifying and responding to the needs of existing businesses
Focused on supporting retention & expansion of businesses already in your community
Highly effective economic development approach, especially in rural areas
One of our project is the Business Retention & Expansion program – or BRE for short
BRE is a program that gathers information through surveys and interviews with local businesses
This research is conducted locally through community partners
The results of which can help inform decision making, planning, and actions

4. The Role of the RDI Standardize data collection and analysis
Research support in terms of design, collection, analysis, reporting
Provide tools to support successful implementation and follow up
Connect to available resources and broker necessary partnerships
Regional and sector specific analysis
There are a number of reasons that the RDI is involved – for example we purchased a license for the BC Business Counts program so that each community in our region can access this program free of charge.
But what I want to draw your attention to the one that is underlined.
Because we are all using the same database, this allows us to look at the region as a whole – trends and comparison.
This is what I’m here to talk about today – a regional, and sector specific examination of the BRE data – specifically looking at the tourism sector

5. Completed or In Progress
Boundary Region (Grand Forks, Greenwood, Midway)
Creston & District
Slocan Valley
(New Denver, Silverton, Slocan RDCK Area H)
Nelson
Sparwood
Fernie & Area
Kaslo & Area
Revelstoke & Area
Kimberley
Nakusp
Kicking Horse Country (Golden)
Lower Columbia
(Fruitvale, Montrose, Trail, Warfield, Rossland, RDKB Areas A&B)
We have 28 municipalities in our region. Of these 28, the ones shown on the screen have completed a BRE.
I should note that last week I was in contact with folks in Elkford, so they will soon be added to this list as well.

6. Tourism Sector BRE Figure 1: Industries Represented
Figure 2: Regions Represented
In order to take a look at the tourism sector what we did was pull together the results of all the completed BRE reports and select those companies from within the tourism sector (so accommodation, food and beverage, recreation, travel) – shown here in figure 1.
A total of 152 businesses from the tourism sector within 14 communities from across the region were identified for inclusion in this report. CLICK
23% of businesses included in this report are from Golden and area, 15% from Revelstoke, 9% from the Slocan Valley, and 9% from Nelson and area.

7. What is included in the report?
Company Information
Local Workforce
Sales
Facilities and Equipment
Government Services
Business Climate
Assessment and Plans
Each of these bullets is a section within the BRE, in addition to the methods and recommendations sections.
There are quite literally 162 pages of tables and graphs so I cannot touch on them all
Instead I will focus on the highlights and allow you to read the details in the report or the summary knowledge brief I brought with me
Photo Credit: Columbia River, Golden BC. Photographer: Dave Best
Source:

8. HIGHLIGHTS Strong tourism sector Stable or increasing sales
4,071 employees
Cost of living & housing
Financing and local regulation
Off the top, here are some of the highlights.
This report paints a picture of a strong tourism industry. Most companies that participated were in business for over 20 years. Half of the companies are growing. Just under half are planning to expand their facility in the next 3 years.
Just over half indicated the market for their product or service is stable, while 38% indicated the market is increasing
The 152 businesses represented 4,071 employees, including 41% full time, 35% part time, and 24% temporary.
Unsurprisingly, the most critical considerations for these employees are cost of living and housing. We also saw this reflected in our overarching regional report that included all sectors, suggesting these challenges are not going to be solved by the actions of a single community, company, or sector, but are a target for collaborative solutions.
Top barriers to expansion were noted as financing and local regulation

9. COMPANY INFORMATION: competition and success factors
Figure 4: Location of Primary Competitors
Figure 5: Factors for Success
Why here?
Location (23%)
Business opportunity (21%)
Lifestyle (11%)
Majority of competition (78%) was reported to come from within the region. This is interesting, because one of the first things it makes me wonder is if there are ways we can work together instead? Can we continue to build those regional packages, tours, and so on that bring people here for multiple experiences?
The word diagram shows key words that popped up when businesses were asked what made their company successful in this region.
When asked why they chose their location, the top three responses were location, a business opportunity, and lifestyle.

10. COMPANY INFORMATION: age, life cycle stage, ownership
Figure 10: Life Cycle Stage
Figure 11: Length of Time in Business
50% reported their business as growing. As you can see, very few indicated they were declining.
As I noted earlier, 38% have been in business for over 20 years, another 26% between years – demonstrating an established tourism sector.
93% of companies who responded are privately owned and the majority of these have not seen a change in management or ownership in the last 5 years.

11. COMPANY INFORMATION: planning
Figure 15: Anticipated Exit Strategy
Figure 16: Formal Succession Plan
Only 15% of respondents reported a pending ownership change.
When asked about their exist strategy – most respondents expect to see their business to a non-family member.
Figure 16 is something I want to highlight – only 19% of respondents have a formal succession plan. Of those that have a plan 67% received assistance preparing this plan. To me this highlights a very important training/development opportunity.
We see this again when it comes to business plans generally – 52% have a business plan in place. That’s great, but that means there is there are many businesses who are potentially in need of support in this arena.
Business plans:
52% have a current business plan

12. LOCAL WORKFORCE: size, demographics, & wages
Figure 18: Total number of employees
Figure 24: Wages in relation to other businesses in the region
Moving on to the local workforce.
There were 4071 employees total. 38% of businesses had less than 5 employees. This figure shows a lot of small businesses.
When asked about employment trends, most felt their number of employees had stayed the same. And most again felt they would stay the same over the next 3 years
41% of essential employees are in the range, less than 10% were under 25. This is similar to the region overall and mirrors our aging demographic trend.
Wages reported ranged from $20-29 for skilled workers to $10-12 for entry level, with the most commonly hourly wage being semi-skilled workers at between $ Most felt they paid similarly to other businesses

13. LOCAL WORKFORCE: recruitment and retention
Figure 27: Challenges
Figure 28: Retention Effort Keywords
Most recruited their workforce locally.
40% reported recruitment challenges, and 33% reported retention challenges.
When asked what efforts businesses have undertaken to recruit employees, efforts that emerged most often were word of mouth (23% or 12 respondents) and advertising (23% or 12 respondents). Respondents also cited using a wide variety of other means, including using online job boards, training, staff discounts, social media, and the internet.
41% of respondents (54 businesses) anticipate future recruitment difficulties. The most commonly anticipated recruitment areas which may prove challenging include hospitality service (31% or 16 respondents) and food/beverage service (31% or 16 respondents).
40% of respondents (23 respondents) indicated that they believed there were strategies that could be undertaken to address employee recruitment. 18% (4 respondents) believed that better job advertising could be effective, while 14% (3 respondents) suggested help with the foreign worker program and another 14% (3 respondents) suggested supporting affordable housing.

14. LOCAL WORKFORCE: skills & training
Figure 36: Training and PD Needs
Workforce Skill Level:
Skilled / Professional (42%)
Semi-skilled (22%)
Entry-Level (17%)
Future training:
Marketing / Social Media
Computer & technology
38% of respondents (48 businesses) indicated that they were aware of trends, technologies, and other significant changes that will be occurring in their industry that will require new skills.
The most commonly listed training or professional development need identified was safety/food safe/first aid. This is interesting in contrast to future training needs, where marketing, social media, computer and technology came out as highest priorities.

15. LOCAL WORKFORCE: considerations for employees
Figure 40: Critical considerations for employees
I have only included one graph on this slide because of it’s importance. Critical considerations for employees – cost of living and housing come out on top, followed by childcare and transportation. This is essentially a mirror of what we’ve seen everywhere. Again, to me, given the universal nature of these topics in our region there is a lot to be said for collaborative approaches to solutions, particularly when we’re discussing housing.

16. SALES Figure 43: Market Share in Comparison to Competitors
Figure 44: Projected sales growth in the next year
Moving on to sales.
Over half indicate their share of the market is stable in comparison to their competitors.
35% reported annual sales between $100K and $499K. 29% reported between $1M and $4.9M.
40% expect to see a growth in sales between 1-9% in the next year (although please note that “the next year” was not the same year as these surveys were done over multiple years).
The majority indicated sales have increased over time

17. BUSINESS CLIMATE: quality of business climate
Figure 80: Rating of business climate factors
46% rated the overall business climate as good, 37% as fair.
The factors that received the highest number of POOR ratings included workforce stability (27% or 37 businesses), economic development (25% or 34 businesses), and workforce availability (24% or 33 businesses).
The factors that received the highest number of FAIR ratings included workforce quality (42% or 57 businesses), housing (41% or 57 businesses), workforce stability (39% or 54 businesses), and economic development (36% or 49 businesses).
The factors that received the highest number of GOOD ratings included tourism services (51% or 33 businesses), K-12 education (46% and 62 businesses), and cultural/recreational amenities (46% or 62 businesses).
The factors that received the highest number of EXCELLENT ratings included chamber of commerce (25% or 16 businesses), cultural and recreational amenities (18% or 25 businesses), and tourism services (18% or 12 businesses).
The factors that received the highest number of NO OPINION ratings include Business Improvement Associations (BIA) (79% or 26 businesses) and Community Futures (31% or 20 businesses).

18. BUSINESS CLIMATE: strengths & weaknesses
Figure 84: Community's weaknesses as a place to do business
Top 3 strengths – location, supportive community, lifestyle. Followed by friendliness.
Weaknesses or areas for improvement. Top 3 – high cost of living, development constraints, seasonality, location.
Interesting that location is there for both. We see this in the barriers to growth when respondents pointed to geographic isolation. But that same geography also produces many of our critical assets.

19. POTENTIAL ACTIONS – PART 1
Workforce
Improved job advertising
Help with relevant government programs
Youth workforce development
Addressing housing, transportation, cost of living
Business Growth & Expansion
Assistance navigating local regulations
Accessing new markets
Exploring financing options
Connecting businesses with existing resources
Tailor supports to the size and type of businesses
The BRE reports are not intended to provide a todo list of actions. They provide, both in the sector reports and the community reports, a level of detail we typically don’t see for data. They are also intended to start a conversation.

20. POTENTIAL ACTIONS – PART 2
Sourcing and Procurement
Understand opportunities that exist to increase local supply and engage existing and new businesses to fill that role if feasible
Strengthen the link between local food suppliers/producers and local area businesses
Training
Supporting networks to help businesses identify and address training needs
Increase awareness of new trends
Working with local educational institutions on skills and programs
Planning
One-on-one programs
Aggressively advertised supports
Direct outreach to businesses

21. Tourism Sector Business Retention & Expansion Report
Thank You
Questions?
Tourism Sector Business Retention & Expansion Report