This week, Tourism Langley’s board asked its stakeholders to vote on shutting down.
The board fears Langley Township is trying to run them by remote control in the wake of a new agreement between municipality and tourism agency.
Not at all, insists Township Councillor Angie Quaale. It’s all just a misunderstanding.
Hopefully, that’s the case. Tourism Langley brings dollars to Langley businesses. It’s not just hotels and bed and breakfasts that benefit. Stores and restaurants, athletic venues, and equestrian facilities, rely on a steady stream of visitors from throughout the Lower Mainland and beyond.
The various partners could have done a better job of communicating with one another – on this they already agreed.
Langley Township abruptly announced last fall it would consider leaving Tourism Langley and starting its own agency, alarming Langley City’s elected officials.
Last month, the Township decided to stick with Tourism Langley, with some conditions. But it was one of those conditions that panicked the Tourism board.
Tourism Langley’s board of directors obviously feel threatened, or it wouldn’t have taken the drastic step to call for a vote to dissolve the whole enterprise.
It sounds like everyone involved could benefit from sitting down together and having a good, long chat, aimed at finding compromise.
Hopefully, it can still all be straightened out.
If it isn’t, Langley could be left without a tourism agency just before the spring, when sports tourism, cycling, winery tours, and the farmgate season all start to rev up.
It seems communication needs to improve among all the stakeholders.
– M.C.
