The Burns Lake and District Chamber of Commerce helped promote the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako (RDBN) at an outdoor adventure and travel show in Vancouver.
Presented by G Adventures, the two-day event gathered over 250 exhibitors on March 12-13, 2016.
“It’s one of the premier events in Vancouver for people to get travel information,” explained chamber manager Susan Schienbein, who was the only representative from the RDBN at the event.
Exhibitors from all over the world helped visitors plan their next adventure by talking about the best aspects of their regions.
“[There were] exhibitors from as far away as the Zulu Nyala Safari Game Lodge in Africa to our very own travel Northern B.C. booth,” said Schienbein.
The travel Northern B.C. booth, which had eight people representing different parts of Northern B.C., was a “huge draw,” according to Schienbein.
Travel Northern B.C. booth representatives gave away visitor guides of the region as well as items such as sunglasses, lip balms and jump drives.
“Our booth always draws a large crowd because we have a big space and lots of room for folks to get inside the booth and interact and engage,” she said. “As a team, we promote the entire area and try to highlight the route between Prince George and Prince Rupert; we talk about all the side trips and how folks could spend a couple of extra days in the region.”
Schienbein said many visitors were planning a trip to the Yukon or Alaska, so she was able to give them information on things to stop and see on the way.
“I spoke to lots of folks about the Lakes District, about heading up to Granisle, over to the Southside, camping in Fraser Lake and checking out the amazing swans and then of course, a lot of talk about fishing for steelhead in the Morice River.”
Schienbein said people seemed fascinated with Northern B.C.
“Almost every person I talked to wanted to come to the north; even after we outlined the distance from the Lower Mainland.”
Schienbein said the most interesting subject that came up this year was bears.
“A lot of people asked if it was safe to camp/hike in the north because of the bears.”
This was the second year that the chamber was chosen by the RDBN to attend the Vancouver outdoor show on its behalf.
“These events are really important to attend as folks are planning trips right now,” said Schienbein. “The high exchange rate for the U.S. dollar is helping British Columbians and Canadians plan ‘staycations’ and we couldn’t be happier about that.”
