Tourism struggling after 911, but operators hang on

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The second annual Aboriginal Tourism Awards, held in conjunction with the Tourism Weetama Festival in Whistler Aug. 16, drew as enthusiastic a group of people as you will find anywhere.

Aboriginal Tourism British Columbia (ATBC) and Tourism Whistler hosted the gala, which recognizes and celebrates outstanding entrepreneurs within the Aboriginal tourism industry. Eight awards were presented.

The award winners all demonstrated that they have made important contributions to the industry, they are good at what they do, and they contribute to their local communities.

The U'Mista Cultural Society was presented with the Cultural Authenticity Award by Chief Ian Campbell of the Squamish Nation. The centre was opened in 1980 to promote and foster cultural development. The main part of their mandate is to revive Native language through teaching young people the songs, legends and dances that they present to tourists, and it also encourages them to continue learning their language and to become more involved with tourism.

Andrea Sanborn, U'Mista's executive director, said that in their tourism development initiatives, "It is the community that becomes part of all the programs, so it is important that they be recognized as the contributors to the success of any program we do.

"As economies change, as ours has, we do have to look to other opportunities."

Sanborn said the downturn of the commercial fishing industry in Alert Bay and the lack of other commercially viable natural resources made them look at tourism and promoting Northwest Coast Native art.

"Tourism is something our people were involved in for many, many years, and now it's becoming a world-recognized industry... The opportunity that it extends to our carvers, our craftspeople, is pretty important as well."

Lillian Hunt, who has a long association with U'Mista, is on the board of directors for the Vancouver Island Tourism association, and is chair of the Vancouver Island North Visitors Association as well as ATBC, received an Ambassador's Award. It was presented by Wally Samuel, also a director on the ATBC board.

Hunt, who has been a tour guide for six years, said she is "incredibly proud" of the award. "It's a wonderful award for me because for the past six years, that's exactly what I've been doing.

U'Mista Cultural Centre developed Tourism Alert Bay upon entering the tourism industry.

"Part of our role was to go out and find out what First Nation tourism means to our own people and to visitors...And it has been clear to us from the start, the high interest in First Nation culture as a tourism product globally."

Hunt said industry statistics tell them to focus on customer service, so that's where their efforts are going. "That's the number one reason people come back, it's because of customer service."

She said even though hospitality is embedded in the Native culture, "There are fine tuning points to take that and pass it to business. It really is different. We have to take a lot of different things into consideration."

Qulus Aboriginal Tours Inc. received the Excellence in Customer Service Award that was donated by Grant Thornton Inc. Lillian Hunt presented it on behalf of the ATBC board.

Clarissa Feiertag, a partner in Qulus along with her brother Jordan, has four years in the tourism industry.

"It meant a great deal to us to get it," she said about the award. "We got it last year and we were just absolutely thrilled to receive it again."

Feiertag said because the tourism industry has been struggling the past two years, "getting some form of recognition is worth a lot to us. It makes up for other things we're not getting."

Feiertag, said they have taken on other jobs to get them through the tough times, but they are determined to hold on until the economy turns around.

"We know there are fabulous Native products that have come out on the market, that sooner or later the industry is going to turn around again, and we want to be part of it. And e're willing to basically do whatever needs to be done to make it go," said Clarissa Feiertag.

Gisele Martin, of TLAOOK Cultural Adventures, received the Young Adult Achievement Award on her 26th birthday. It was presented by Rich Thorpe, minister of Competition, Science and Enterprise.

Martin said one of her goals is to help educate visitors about the history and culture of First Nation people in the Tofino area, where she said there were not a lot of other First Nation-run tours. It took her a long time to get into business, but she is "really happy I am finally doing what I love," she said.

Takaya Tours received the Strength in Marketing Award, presented by Martina Pierre, a councillor with the Lil'wat Nation.

"The award is a great honour," said. Justin George, co-manager of Takaya Tours. "I accept it on behalf of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, the Elders, chief and council, our economic development department and our land and resources department, who have all been very supportive of Takaya Tours. I also accept it on behalf of the employees of Takaya Tours who make the business what it is. I see Takaya Tours as building something positive for our future generations. Tourism is about sharing stories, and who better to share them than the people themselves."

Tom Sewid, owner of Village Island Tours, received the Tourism Conservation Award. The award was presented by Stan Hagen, minister of Sustainable Resource Management & Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries.

Sewid said it was explained to him that he got his award for preserving Aboriginal culture and heritage and promoting Aboriginal rights through tourism.

He was thrilled "after 15 years of being in the tourism industry to be recognized for the strides I have taken, I was honoured to receive that award. To me, cultural and heritage tourism is everything to the First Nations." With the revival of previously banned ceremonies, it makes him proud to show tourists the culture has not died.

Nk'Mip Deset & Heritage Centre, in the Osoyoos-South Okanagan area, received the Power of Education Award, which was presented by Wendy John, a councillor for the Musqueam Indian Band.

Geraldine Manossa, director of marketing for the centre, said, "We are able to provide our visitors with educational and fun programs. It's truly an honour to be recognized by peers and other tourist-based businesses that see our work as being valuable in terms of its potential to educate the public." The third benefit of receiving the award is it "proves that partnerhips work. Our Nk'Mip team of researchers, interpreters and biologists create programs, which bridge not only the cultural gap within society, but also the education gap that exists regarding desert ecology."

Dr. Linnea Battel, director of the Xa:ytem Longhouse Interpretive Centre in Mission received the Inspirational Leadership Award, which was presented by Grand Chief Edward John of the First Nations Summit.

" I am thrilled and honoured by the recognition of my work and leadership at Xa:ytem. This award will help greatly in raising the profile of the site as well as Aboriginal Tourism in general. I am looking forward to positioning the site as a tourism destination for the 2010 Olympics."

Beverley O'Neil of O'Neil Marketing and Consulting/Numa Communications, an associate member of ATBC, received an Ambassadors Award, presented by Wally Samuel of the ATBC board.