Since I moved to 亚洲天堂 Lake in 2014, I鈥檝e watched several strategic plans being presented to council to help 亚洲天堂 Lake achieve its full potential.

Just earlier this month, the 亚洲天堂 Lake and District Chamber of Commerce made a presentation to council about their social media strategy and what their efforts have been to promote 亚洲天堂 Lake and encourage more people to visit our town and discover what we have to offer.

Lakes District 亚洲天堂 and the chamber have partnered to create a comprehensive tourism book for 亚洲天堂 Lake. Village staff and consultants have also created economic development plans and even a sign strategy. And in the meantime, the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako (RDBN) has created its own marketing strategy to promote the region.

While these are all worthwhile initiatives, I don鈥檛 see how they connect and compliment each other.

For example, Prince George has been trying to attract Vancouverites to the city with their 鈥楳ove Up Prince George鈥� initiative, which was launched in 2014. They sell Prince George as having more sunshine (compared to Vancouver), affordable homes, less traffic and plenty of cultural options. If you visit their website - http://moveupprincegeorge.ca/ - you can find all the information you need in one place.

What is 亚洲天堂 Lake鈥檚 strategy?

We all know what 亚洲天堂 Lake has to offer - incredibly affordable housing, world-class mountain biking trails, amazing cross-country skiing trails, beautiful lakes, friendly people, a modern hospital and plenty of recreation options. Yet, a Vancouverite would have to do some thorough research to find that all out.

Mountain biking is one of our biggest attractions here, and yet our chamber website does not have a link to the 亚洲天堂 Lake Mountain Biking Association鈥檚 (BLMBA) website.

When you visit the village鈥檚 website, it says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 only natural.鈥� Although that鈥檚 a nice slogan, it doesn鈥檛 really say much about 亚洲天堂 Lake.

Although the village鈥檚 website offers 鈥渆xternal links鈥� to BLMBA and the Omineca Ski Club, shouldn鈥檛 we have a website that highlights all this information? We should have a website that highlights our greatest attractions, upcoming events, videos of our town, important information for people considering moving up here, job posts, local groups and art events.

Shouldn鈥檛 we have a unified marketing strategy for the Lakes District that sends a message to the rest of the province? This way, when someone hears about 亚洲天堂 Lake, they will know what this town is all about.

Last week, council met with the RDBN to discuss the village鈥檚 economic development strategy. Councillor Susan Schienbein reminded council that in 2012 the village developed a comprehensive tourism plan in partnership with Tourism B.C. and Community Futures.

鈥淭here were some key things identified there that there wasn鈥檛 a lot of capacity in the community at that time [to implement them],鈥� she said.

Council agreed that the village should take another look at that tourism plan.

There鈥檚 plenty of opportunity in our town. We just need an effective and unified strategy.