Sustainability Guidelines

This project for the Southern Gulf Islands Community Resource Centre (SGI CRC) is to engage the community in the co-creation of a strategic plan to implement an organizational infrastructure for regenerative travel and edutourism on Galiano, Mayne, Saturna, North and South Pender islands.

Regenerative Travel: a commitment to tourism as a tool to create thriving destination communities and to regenerate and heal damaged resources.

Edutourism: an activity undertaken by the tourists for whom education and learning is the primary or secondary part of the trip.

The Project Outcomes that the funding will help to achieve include:
⮚ Comprehensive community engagement using community forums, social media and focus groups to create a strategic plan for Regenerative Travel and Educational Tourism on the Southern Gulf Islands.
⮚ A strategic plan that supports shoulder-season employment for many island residents (edutourism businesses, local instructors, food service provisioners, venue operators, accommodation and transportation providers, etc).
⮚ Strategic direction for local government (Capital Regional District – CRD, the Islands Trust and the W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council) to meet the social, economic and environmental needs of the Southern Gulf Islands with respect to tourism.
⮚ A framework that supports our communities and local businesses as they adapt to external changes such as over-tourism in the peak season, global pandemics and the climate crisis.
⮚ Support for the aspirations of local First Nations to take a more active educational role in their traditional territories as part of their Cultural Resurgence