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Kitimat Northern Sentinel
Haisla plan to offer tourists a world class opportunity
By Cameron Orr - Kitimat Northern Sentinel
Published: December 17, 2008 6:00 AM
Updated: December 18, 2008 9:39 AM
By next spring the Kitamaat Village Council (KVC) should have a new tourism venture operating which will send people on eco-adventures down the Douglas Channel.
Test runs of boat tours have already taken place, most recently with a group of travel and tourism experts.
According to Marc-Andre de Launiere, consultant to KVC in implementing the Haisla Tourism Strategy, there will be a variety of packages available to tourists including rafting, sea kayaking and regular sightseeing tours.
“We are a customer-oriented business,” said Launiere, referring to the flexibility of the company to provide different kinds of experiences.
Tours will take people to places like Bishop Bay hotsprings and Kitlope River and Lake off the Gardner Canal.
It will also be an introduction for people into traditional Haisla territory.
“It’s about the Haisla culture,” said Launiere.
He said one of the things they need to do over the next few months is find and train a guide for the rafting and sea kayaking. While ideally they’d like to hire from within the Haisla community he said they may have to look outside for the time being.
Feedback was positive from the guests on the October trip. One, owner of Elan travel George Clark, said that what the Haisla have is a world class asset.
“The scenery there is just totally spectacular,” Clark told the Sentinel. “The Kitlope, I think, really takes the cake.”
He noted the mid-coast area of the province is a spectacular area as well but, the Kitlope area had the advantage of being one of the most pristine places left in the entire province.
“In that sense I think it’s pretty unique and extremely precious,” he said.
Maintaining the ecosystem will be a crucial component to the tour, according to Clark, who suggested the Haisla will have to be careful to make sure it remains as pristine as possible.
“That will be the challenge to manage it so that it remains totally unspoiled and stays as beautiful as it is,” he said.
As for bringing eco-tourists to the area, Clark doesn’t anticipate demand will be a problem and that is in part connected to the need to maintain the area.
For example, preserving the environment would mean limiting the daily number of visitors which can in turn add prestige to the trip.
“It will become known as one of the last remaining wildernesses and that access is very limited.”
For comparison, Clark said he is doing a tour to a gorilla reserve in Africa and pointed out it’s already sold out because only 26 people are allowed per day.
In fact, tourists have to book at least a year in advance - yet it costs $500 a day (not including accommodation and meals).
Providing the Haisla cultural experience will also tie in well to global travel trends where eco and cultural tourism are the hot ticket items.
“People are anxious these days to take holidays whereby they have a cultural experience, they learn about other cultures and they’re also going to places that are unique,” he said.
Launiere recognized the fine line that has to be followed in order not to fall into the trap of wrecking the environment they’re there to observe.
“We have to make sure we don’t overcrowd the place,” he said, recognizing the area is still a channel and not wide open sea.
Taking the example of sea lions he said that if anyone gets too close they disperse and if tourist visitors become too frequent they may leave entirely.
To ensure the environment is maintained they will hire watchmen to keep an eye on things.
Launiere recognizes promoting tourism is a difficult process, but he hopes many people, especially from the area, will take advantage of the opportunity to use their services.
“We have to make sure that we succeed in the first step. The sky is probably the limit.”
