Photo Credit: KamloopsBCNow.com
Local tourism in Sun Peaks received nearly $300,000 from the government’s Resort Municipality Initiative.
MLA Terry Lake made the announcement on Monday, August 24th.
The RMI program provides winter destinations with funding to support tourism in the off season.
Sun Peaks has been participating in the program since 2011 and has reaped the benefits. The resort celebrated their best July on record last month. They plan to use the new funding towards expanding recreational opportunities, summer music concerts, and infrastructure improvements.
"The Resort Municipality Initiative assists resort oriented communities by providing funding which, when combined with the locally collected municipal and regional district tax and property taxes, provides balanced and significant funding to invest in needed tourism related infrastructure and programs and to market Sun Peaks. We are pleased that the Province of B.C. has recognized this unique situation and provided a community driven formula to encourage tourism investments in smaller communities," said Sun Peaks Mayor Al Raine.
The B.C. government will provide $10.5 million to support 14 communities until the end of 2017.
Other municipalities that qualify for RMI funding are Fernie, Golden, Harrison Hot Springs, Rossland, Tofino, Invermere, Kimberley, Ucluelet, Valemount, Osoyoos, Radium, Revelstoke, and Whistler.
Since 2006, the program has provided $98.1 million towards tourism infrastructure and programs.
