Get ready for pot tourism
Trevor Nichols - May 18, 2018 - Biz Releases

Image: File Photo

Cannabis-related tourism has the potential to bring big bucks into the Okanagan Valley, but the emerging legal cannabis industry will have to navigate some tricky roadblocks before it can truly capitalize on weed’s tourism potential.

A group of tourism-industry experts tackled the issue yesterday, at NICHE Canada’s “Cannabis and our Community” forum in Kelowna.

Kevin Poole, the manager of economic development and tourism with the City of Vernon; and David Purcell, the director of emerging business at Kwantlen Polytechnic University were among the panellists.

Both were optimistic about the potential for pot and tourism, and Poole, in particular, said there is a lot the Okanagan can learn from Colorado, where marijuana was legalized in 2014.

‘High’ profits

By most accounts, pot tourism has been a huge boon to Colorado’s economy.

Colorado’s tourism office has found that 23 per cent of visitors to the state show up at least in part because of marijuana, and many tourism-industry players say cannabis tourism has spurred significant economic activity.

Poole says the Okanagan could see a similar economic boon from legal weed but some significant regulatory hurdles still stand in the way of massive marijuana tourism in the region.

In Colorado, it is essentially impossible to consume marijuana in public—it’s not allowed on sidewalks, in parks, at ski resorts, or virtually any other public places.

“If you’re going to travel to a location to partake in a craft beer experience you’re going to be within a pub and you’re going to try different beers. You cannot, at this time, do the same thing,” he said.

That, obviously, has created significant challenges for operators looking to provide cannabis-related tourism experiences, hampering the industry’s growth.

In Canada, it doesn’t appear legalization will come with significant public consumption allowances.

Kevin said that, without those, he’s “not sure what the tourism market looks like.”

How to promote?

Then there’s the question of promoting the Okanagan as a cannabis tourism destination.

Poole says there’s “opportunity” there, but that regions who send the most visitors to the Okanagan (the Lower Mainland and Alberta) is where local tourism organizations spend most of their money.

But those places will also have readily available legal weed, meaning it’s unlikely people will travel just for cannabis.

“If marijuana is already legalized in their backyard, I don’t know if it’s going to draw and promote tourism in the same way,” he said.

“I think right now what we’re looking at is it’s an excellent add-on. So we’ve got people coming to the Okanagan for the skiing, we’ve got people coming to our lakes, and there’s this added product within the market that our consumers and our tourists will hopefully stay an extra day for.”

Welcoming illegal growers

While the Okanagan has already shown itself to be one of the hotspots for Cannabis in the country, Purcell says there’s one other thing that will need to happen for the industry to reach its full potential: it will have to welcome in illicit growers.

He pointed out that “B.C. bud” has a first-class reputation around the world, and that the Okanagan can “take advantage of that” if it can bring into the fold the people responsible for that reputation.

“If we can get the craft grower out into the light, in the regulated framework, that will create a whole host of jobs, it will increase tourism opportunities,” he said.

He said the “onus” will be on the regulator and educators to bring those growers to the table and prepare them to work within the legal market—otherwise many will just keep working outside of it.

“It’s up to us to make sure that, not only is the existing legal market is prepared from a training and education perspective, but that those within the illicit market that want to come out, we give them the tools that they’ll be able to … be successful.”


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