Planning, designing and managing great destinations.

Destinations don’t happen by accident. To paraphrase Shakespeare, “Some (destinations) are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” However, even famous destinations with the greatest assets can decline over time without careful destination management. There are many failed destinations which have sadly become liabilities - not assets. ‘Overtourism’ is only one symptom that can be overcome by good destination management.

‘Destination Management’ harnesses the community, public and private sector in planning for - and then managing - tourism. Successful destination management creates win-win-win outcomes for the community, the environment and the economy. It is collaborative and proactive.

An early example was the Alberta Government’s ‘Community Tourism Action Plan' (CTAP) initiative of the early 1990’s. This incentivized Alberta communities of all sizes to create a local tourism destination and management plan through collaborative workshops. Doug Leighton was heavily involved in creating the Banff CTAP plan, which brought together the Town of Banff, Parks Canada, local businesses and community groups. This informed the Town’s Official Community Plan and Land Use Bylaw and led to the creation of the Banff-Lake Louise Tourism Bureau.

Destination planning and management experience includes:

• Mountain resort communities such as Banff, Whistler, Queenstown, Wanaka and Cardrona (New Zealand)

• Enhancing mountain destinations (Porter Heights NZ - as Principal of Boffa Miskell Ltd with Brent Harley Associates)

• Existing and new coastal communities including Browns Bay, Orewa, Omaha South (Boffa Miskell)

• Waterfront redevelopments, including Wynyard Quarter (Auckland) and Picton New Zealand (Boffa MIskell)

• Specialized destinations (Columbia Icefields Centre) and research (Visitor Reception in National Parks and Canadian Rockies Bikeways)