A new website and marketing initiative to attract paddlers to BC has been launched thanks to the initiative of a local expert and advocate.
Paddle BC is the brainchild of Andrea Ryman, the marketing director of Destination Castlegar,a self-described “passionate paddler” who co-owns Endless Adventures, a local rafting and kayak company. She’s also a stand up paddleboard instructor.
She sees Paddle BC as a missing component to Destination BC’s efforts and hopes to get all regions of the province on board to promote the province as a place for paddlers.
Launched this month, Paddle BC is a collaboration between paddling associations and other organizations, such as Fishing BC. In addition to highlighting BC’s waterways as prime destinations, they are promoting the safety of the sport.
“I love to paddle everything, from lakes and rivers to the ocean, and when I travel my paddleboard always goes with me,” Ryman said in a news release.
“Having worked in tourism for the last 15 years, I noticed that fishing and biking have led the charge in BC for adventure tourism. With the wealth of waterways running though the
province, creating Paddle BC seemed like the next step to highlight British Columbia’s adventure playground.”
Partners to date include the BC River Outfitters Association, Tourism Kamloops, Cariboo
Chilcotin Coast, Tourism Fernie, Fishing BC, Tourism Squamish, Indigenous Tourism BC, and Tourism Golden.
Ryman says she hopes to add more to cover all major paddling destinations.
The website, paddlebc.ca, lets you search for information by three main categories:
region, waterway, and experience. The latter is broken down into five subcategories that include paddleboarding, kayaking, rafting, canoeing, and kayak fishing.
The waterways listed include lakes, rivers and the Pacific Ocean, and the six tourism regions of the province.