Sustainability development action planning for Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality Summary of the current situation and framework for an economic development strategy FINAL REPORT November 2012 “Despite many challenges, Sun Peaks is one of the most attractive mountain resort areas in Canada, and has numerous awards to show for it. Strong organizations exist to support collaboration on business and community development.” Any photos used in this report have been taken from the Sun Peaks Resort website: http://www.sunpeaksresort.com/ Prepared by: Savage & Associates Quesnel, BC Westcoast CED Vernon, BC Sustainability development planning context for SPMRM | 1 Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................ 1 1.1 Definition of “sustainability” ........................................... 1 2 CURRENT SITUATION .......................................................... 1 2.1 Governance and planning ................................................ 3 3 VISION ........................................................................ 4 4 SUSTAINABILITY GOALS ........................................................ 6 4.1 Economic FocusGoals .................................................. 6 4.2 Organizational CapacityGoal ......................................... 7 4.3 FN Involvement: Resort Activities and DevelopmentGoal ....... 7 5 SUGGESTIONS FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ACTIONS ......................... 8 5.1 Notes for reviewers ....................................................... 8 “By 2032, Sun Peaks has 5.2 Aims and Actions .......................................................... 9 enhanced its status as a 5.3 Proposed steps for creating a broad economic development leading mountain resort strategy ......................................................................... 15 community in North America. The Resort continues to win APPENDIX 1: Economic snapshot of Sun Peaks ........................... 16 awards for its runs, terrain, APPENDIX 2: Ski resort summer activities—comparison table ......... 21 family-friendly atmosphere, and environmental APPENDIX 3: Notes from Stakeholder Workshop #1 (Sept 4, 2012) ... 23 sustainability.” APPENDIX 4: Notes from Stakeholders Workshop #2 (Oct. 10, 2012) . 26 APPENDIX 5: FN Involvement in Ski Resorts North American ........ 30 Savage & Assoc. & Westcoast CED | i Sustainability development action planning for SPMRM 1 Introduction This economic planning project has the following elements: a basic economic snapshot of Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality and its community businesses, collaborative research and planning with stakeholders, proposed aims and actions for a strategy, and a plan of action for fully developing and implementing a community economic development strategy. That strategy is intended to integrate with the planning work of Sun Peaks Resort Corporation, Tourism Sun Peaks and other stakeholders. 1.1 Definition of “sustainability” This project is part of a comprehensive “integrated community sustainability planning” effort co-funded by the BC government. Various definitions of sustainability exist; the “three pillars” concept is frequently used (ecosystem, economic and social health). The following diagram shows the relationship between those three pillars of sustainability, and demonstrates that both economy and society are constrained by environmental limits.1 Those involved with a mountain resort municipality clearly understand the significance of the physical environment for the economy and social health. Environmental and social sustainability are best looked at in parallel with economic sustainability. 2 Current situation The following, and the “economic snapshot” information in Appendix 1 of this report, are partly based on analyses by key stakeholders (e.g., Tourism Sun Peaks’ review of Sun Peaks’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). Sun Peaks is almost entirely dependent on tourism, especially ski tourism. It is a single industry town to a much greater degree, for example, than almost any forestry, fishing or mining community in BC. Sun Peaks is too new as a municipality to be captured in “local area economic dependency” research, but some comparisons can be made. For example, Quesnel tops the charts as BC’s most forestry-dependent community: in 2006 (the most recent Census analysis available) 45 percent of its basic income was earned from forestry (Gary Horne, BC Local Area Dependencies: 2006). However, Quesnel also has significant public and service sectors, plus modest tourism, mining and agriculture sectors, and is therefore much more diverse in comparison to Sun Peaks. In addition to economic dependency, Sun Peaks faces challenges with seasonality, like all other winter- focused mountain resorts. The information presented in this report demonstrates that clearly. Businesses generally make money during four winter months, but then lose ground over the off- 1 Scott Cato, M. (2009). Green Economics. London: Earthscan, pp. 36–37. Savage & Assoc. & Westcoast CED | 1 Sustainability development action planning for SPMRM season’s eight months of low business activity. If even three months of the shoulder season or summer can become profitable, resort economics would significantly improve (see Appendix 2—Ski resort summer activities: comparison table). Event successes, including in the summer of 2012, have provided an exciting glimpse of that potential. Despite these challenges and others, such as transportation issues, Sun Peaks is one of the most attractive mountain resort areas in Canada, and has numerous awards to show for it. It has major potential to build on a strong asset base valued at over $600 million. The owners, managers and employees of Sun Peaks’ individual businesses, the Resort Corporation, Tourism Sun Peaks and other entities have tremendous collective expertise, and Sun Peaks has a combined marketing budget that most communities can only imagine. Sun Peaks’ stakeholders are heavily invested and committed, but there is no formally articulated, widely supported longer term vision for the community’s development and economic sustainability. Sun Peaks’ stakeholders appear strongly motivated to work collaboratively to establish and realize an integrated long term vision, and this project aims to facilitate that collaboration. The following table helps to focus our attention on how challenging it is for resorts like Sun Peaks to achieve year-round viability.2 Also see the “economic snapshot” summary contained in Appendix 1 of this report. Table 1: Theoretical accommodation break-even analysis for Mountain Resorts and Sun Peaks 2011-12 2011-12 Break-even Room Nights Date Based on 874 Rooms Occupancy Growth Req’d. (Rooms Nights) (45% to 50%) (Based on 900 rooms) Nov. 15-30, 2011 12.5% (1,639) 20% (2,700) 1,061 December, 2011 49.8% (13,493) 65% (18,135) 4,642 January, 2012 46.8% (12,680) 70% (19,530) 6,850 February, 2012 59.8% (15,096) 75% (18,900) 3,804 March, 2012 51.6% (13,980) 75% (20,925) 6,945 April 1-15, 2012 17.8% (2,341) 50% (6,750) 4,409 April 16-30, 2012 10.2% (1,347) 15% (2,025) 678 May, 2012 16.4% (4,443) 30% (8,370) 3,927 June, 2012 20.2% (5,296) 35% (9,450) 4,154 July, 2012 26.7% (7,234) 50% (13,950) 6,716 August, 2012 34.0% (9,211) 60% (16,740) 7,529 September, 2012 24.3% (6,371) 45% (12,150) 5,779 October, 2011 6.8% (1,842) 15% ( 4,185) 2,343 Nov. 1-14, 2012 7.0% ( 920) 10% ( 1,350) 430 Annual Occupancy 30.0% 48.6% 2 Al Raine, Oct. 2012, based on consolidation of data from various sources. Savage & Assoc. & Westcoast CED | 2 Sustainability development action planning for SPMRM 2.1 Governance and planning Strong organizations exist to support collaboration on business and community development: Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality, Sun Peaks Resort Corporation, Tourism Sun Peaks, and Sun Peaks Business Advisory Committee (a municipal body). The following vision statement guides a Resort Development Strategy developed by Sun Peaks municipality to facilitate access to enhanced tax revenue-sharing with the BC government: Sun Peaks will become the best mountain resort community in British Columbia with leading year round attractions and services and a diversified economy that provides meaningful employment and lifestyle enjoyment for all residents and property owners in Sun Peaks. While the primary business development focus remains the winter season and increasing winter occupancies into the 65-70 percent range, the municipally-initiated Resort Development Strategy focuses on the following: 1/ the summer and shoulder seasons, almost exclusively, 2/ relatively low cost, high-yield tools like events and festivals, 3/ small scale capital investments in amenities, and 4/ larger scale capital investments in attractions and related infrastructure. The following table, provided by Tourism Sun Peaks, shows the roles of the key planning entities: Sun Peaks Resort Corporation (SPRC), Tourism Sun Peaks (TSP) and Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality (SPMRM). Table 2: Roles of key planning entities Savage & Assoc. & Westcoast CED | 3 Sustainability development action planning for SPMRM 3 Vision The following vision statement is a draft—a “straw man” for discussion. It is advised that stakeholders adopt a vision to help guide planning work. Note: while the following has been reviewed and amended by Sun Peaks’ stakeholders, it is not the result of consensus discussions. By 2032, Sun Peaks has enhanced its status as a leading mountain resort community in North America. The Resort continues to