VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It has been rumoured the BC Liberals will make the announcement on Monday, but the NDP in this province is promising to put Tourism BC back in the hands of industry experts as a marketing agency if elected. It comes as tourism numbers have been on the decline.

The move has been called for by tourism associations around the province, ever since Tourism BC was put under government control just months before the 2010 Olympics.

“It doesn’t matter where I go,” says NDP Tourism Critic Spencer Chandra Herbert, who accuses the Liberals of bringing Tourism BC into government to serve partisan interests for the Games. “The number one thing I hear is ‘Put the businesses back in charge of marketing. Get government out of being in charge of marketing. Put formula funding back so the industry can plan long term — not at the whim of a minister, and get tourism back as a priority for government.’”

Joined at a news conference by party leader Adrian Dix, Chandra Herbert says doing that would bring back visitors to BC and Metro Vancouver specifically in numbers not seen in five years.

Numbers produced by the NDP suggest international overnight visitors to BC dropped from 4.5 million to 4.2 million between 2008 and 2010.  They also imply the number of visitors to Metro Vancouver between 2007 and 2010 fell from 3.6 million to just over three million.

“In every corner of this province, we have a strong tourism sector,” adds Chandra Herbert. “Businesses are working hard to provide jobs and good employment but the government has tied their hands.”
    
He notes Tourism BC’s past funding formula generated $40 million to $60 million annually and, if reinstated, would provide greater certainty for the roughly 18,000 tourism-dependent businesses in this province.

The ministry responsible for tourism responded to News1130‘s request for information, and informed us Premier Christy Clark is set to make an announcement early next week.