How the province can set itself apart
Published Wednesday August 6th, 2008
Tourism Fundy's UNESCO biosphere reserve puts area in elite company, joining 14 other spots in Canada, about 500 around the globe
About 350 million years ago, a two-kilometer wide meteorite weighing 15-billion tons fell to earth along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River.
The impact created a crater 50 kilometres long in the heart of Quebec's Charlevoix region, ranging just west of Baie-Saint-Paul to east of La Malbaie.
With its picturesque valleys and high mountain peaks, the area was designated a biosphere reserve in 1988 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
It's a moniker local officials have used to attract vacationers ever since.
More than 800,000 people visit the tiny region (it's only 6,000 square kilometres) annually, generating more than $143 million in tourist spending in 2007. As well, nearly 640 local businesses operate in the tourist sector.
Once driven mostly by fishing and farming, tourism now accounts for about a quarter of the jobs in Charlevoix.
As New Brunswick searches for ways to revive its own floundering tourism industry, the Charlevoix success story could hold clues for how the province can set itself apart from competitors.
Last fall, the upper Bay of Fundy coast was also designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve.
"We're hoping to get growth opportunities not just for Sussex, but for the whole area," said Frank Tenhave, executive director for Enterprise Fundy.
"This is a huge piece of geography; nothing's going to change the highest tides or the great views. It's just going to bring in more people to see them."
Given the struggles of New Brunswick's traditional industries, tourism has become a more important component of the provincial economy.
Despite its recent slump, tourism still brings in about $1.2 billion annually and creates the equivalent of 33,000 full-time jobs.
Anchored by Fundy National Park, the boundaries of the reserve stretch from St. Martins to the Tantramar Marsh near Sackville, and inland to Moncton.
The designation puts the area in elite company, joining 14 other spots in Canada and about 500 around the globe.
Peter Etheridge, the executive director of the Fundy biosphere group, cautions that the tourism industry must keep in mind "the attraction to the area is the scenic environment" and, in order for the area to remain appealing, "the ecology, the scenic views have to be preserved."
Etheridge stresses "there will have to be a dialogue" between the region's various stakeholders in order to ensure growth preserves the region.
A committee involving New Brunswick's department of tourism, industry leaders, representatives from government and economic development agencies launched an $85,000 study to explore the tourism potential connected to the UNESCO designation.
Forerunner Creative and Tourism Strategies Ltd., the Charlottetown, P.E.I.-based tourism consulting company currently working on the project, declined to comment while research was ongoing.
Tenhave expects the report to be complete by late fall, and ready for marketing in the next tourist season.
Charlevoix, meanwhile, has made the designation a focus of its tourism campaign.
"It allows us to talk about the beauty of a place that is so good that it needed to be recognized and protected," said Grabrielle LeBlanc, a spokeswoman for Charlevoix tourism.
"In all our promotional material we include that it's a UNESCO biosphere site."
Charles Roberge, president of Charlevoix's biosphere reserve, adds: "Every time I talk to journalists - British, Japanese - writing about the region, that's what interests them, because it's different."
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