Golf a key focus for Vernon Tourism’s 2025 plan

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“We’re really excited to see this partnership and full time contract paying dividends with our hotels and community.”

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Silverthorn pointed to past examples of partnerships that benefited the community, including hosting the Esso Cup. She noted the city was looking to work with other organizations through that partnership, such as Curling Canada, Athletics Canada, and Quidditch Canada, to attract more sporting events to Vernon.

The plan to focus on a specific sport was part of a larger goal of continuing to promote Vernon as a tourism destination, with some key priorities to address in 2025:

• Sponsoring events such as the SunDog Festival, Vernon Winter Carnival, Okanagan Indian Band Komaset Pow Wow, and Comic Con, to support economic activity, diversify the tourism experience, foster community pride, and enhance shoulder season activity
• Working with a consulting firm and with the Sport and Culture Society of the North Okanagan to promote Vernon as a place for group travel where business meetings, sports tournaments, and cultural events can be held
• Running marketing campaigns with partners such as Predator Ridge, Sparkling Hill and SilverStar to support tourism growth by highlighting amenities in Vernon and the North Okanagan

These efforts all align with Tourism Vernon’s strategic goals of improved year-round visitation, visitor satisfaction, stakeholder engagements , and community pride.

Torrie Silverthorn, noted the key demographics Tourism Vernon was looking to attract were active explorers, near retirees, and specific sport participants.

The Tourism Manager added the work in 2025 would also heavily focus on pushing Vernon Tourism’s new branding that was unveiled the year prior.

Silverthorn also told council the implementation of the 5 Year Strategic Plan seemed to be working so far.

“Vernon welcomed over one million overnight visitors in 2024, and this is a conservative estimate,” Silverthorn said.

“Hotel revenue per available room increased by seven per cent.

Silverthorn also stated that “Vernon had the biggest tourism season in its history last summer. We saw the biggest July on record [in terms of visitors].”

She added the new website saw a massive spike in interactions in 2024, and many of those who visited the page then clicked external links to partner business websites.

Silverthorn also noted the shoulder season visits have been steadily increasing, and that drawing people to the region outside the ski or lake seasons would remain a priority for Tourism Vernon.

The Tourism Manager noted the impacts of the change in Short Term Rental regulations remain to be seen, though she did expect to see it slow the growth somewhat. She said data on the impacts could be collected and brought forward to council in the future.

Vernon City Council received the presentation and a report from Vernon Tourism for information at Monday’s meeting.