DMO to social enterprise – sustainability's next step?

Tourism is back on Vancouver Island, evidenced by the fact that a 1,200-passenger Holland America cruise ship arrived in Victoria Harbour April 9, the first cruise ship to arrive there in more than 900 days. 

And with summer approaching, the island is preparing to welcome millions of visitors – about 780,000 of those arriving on the more than 360 ships expected to pull into the port between now and early November.

Vancouver Island is big – slightly larger than Belgium – and pre-COVID, its tourism industry brought in about CAN$4 billion and employed more than 50,000 people across hotels, restaurants, tour operators and other suppliers. 

But as the visitors begin coming back, the island’s 60-year-old tourism organization previously known as Tourism Vancouver Island is making a major shift. 

After operating for its first 50 years focused on promotions and marketing - with success measured in visitor numbers and spending - and then shifting about 10 years ago to prioritize destination management and planning, now the organization is operating as a social enterprise.

Vancouver Island's bold shift reflects a changing paradigm - managing and marketing tourism towards the primary goal of delivering positive social impact versus a sole focus on economic indicators.

Jeremy Sampson - The Travel Foundation

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The change brings a new name - 4VI - and a new mindset and strategy rooted in using its revenue to support four pillars of social responsibility: communities, businesses, culture and environment.

“Travel is still a force for good, but we need to strike a balance between the profitability and the business side with what is best for the environment and the communities and the residents that live here. It’s about mitigating impacts but also enhancing the things that need attention,” says Anthony Everett, president and CEO of 4VI.

“I wouldn’t have thought this way five years ago, or I wouldn’t have given it priority. Now it’s entirely our priority. We are focusing everything we do on finding that balance.”

The organization announced the news April 13 during the Vancouver Island Tourism Conference, when it also announced it has signed the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism and will deliver a climate action plan for the island within the next year. 

Travel Foundation CEO Jeremy Sampson was at the event and says his “jaw nearly hit the floor” at the news of the organization’s shift to a social enterprise – the first such move for a DMO that he is aware of. 

“The DMO model is badly in need of a shake-up as destinations grapple with the increasingly complex challenge of delivering equitable benefits to locals while managing tourism's impacts on communities,” Sampson says.

“Vancouver Island's bold shift reflects a changing paradigm - managing and marketing tourism towards the primary goal of delivering positive social impact versus a sole focus on economic indicators. I'm confident that 4VI will be a true lighthouse example of systems innovation.”

Everett says he knows this is just the first step in what will be a long transformation, but in his nearly 40 years of working in tourism, he says he has never been more excited and enthusiastic. 

One of the top priorities – the one he says “keeps him up at night” – is finding money. 4VI is funded by contracts it has with local communities and government agencies - for example to provide consulting, marketing, research and other services. For this year Everett says the organization has a budget of CAN$6.5 million, including several multi-year contracts that give it a good foundation on which to build.

As the social enterprise activities pick up, Everett says he aims to invest about three-quarters of the organization’s profits into social responsibility activities. 

“Our plans used to be focused on growth and profitability. Now the elements we are contracted to deliver are wholly about destination stewardship,” he says. 

The first projects currently underway include an ocean debris clean-up effort and the creation of a responsible tourism institute. Also in the plans – discussions about the impact of all those cruise ships.

“It’s definitely a pretty polarizing topic," Everett says. "What we want to be a part of is some healthy discussions on what’s best for the communities, the businesses and the planet."