Sicamous Tourism Strategy Builds a Path for Sustainable Growth

September 22, 2026

As the District of Sicamous Development Corporation (DOSDC) prepared to renew its Municipal and Regional District Tax (MRDT) registration, it began work on a new five-year business strategy. The process gave the DOSDC a timely opportunity to assess the community’s tourism assets, strengthen and develop new tourism marketing strategies, and attract more visitors during the shoulder seasons.

With funding from the Economic Trust of the Southern Interior (ETSI-BC), the DOSDC hired consulting firm Travel Local Marketing to develop the DOSDC Destination Development and Marketing Strategy to 2030. The project builds on previous initiatives funded by ETSI-BC including the 2025 Sicamous Strategic Community Economic Development Plan which identified tourism as a key growth area for the region.

This data-driven approach to the strategy’s development drew on several resources for industry trends and statistics, including Destination BC’s Value of Tourism Model, and the Tourism Quality of Life index. The project also demonstrated the new Destination Generous platform developed by Travel Local which focusses on the new economics of tourism and sustainable, inclusive growth. The ETSI-BC Economic Dependencies Dashboard (EDD), an online platform that provides information at both the municipal and regional level combined with Statistics Canada Census data, was another valuable resource.

ETSI-BC spoke to Carly Procyshyn, who was Tourism & Economic Development Coordinator for the DOSDC when the project took place.

ETSI-BC: This is an ambitious large-scale project. How did the project unfold?

Carly: The project had three components starting with the Tourism Economic Impact Study which gave us visitor numbers, revenues, economic output, and the number of jobs supported by tourism in 2024.

The second step, creating the Destination Development and Marketing Strategy, used a number of research and community engagement methods including a focus group with Sicamous tourism sector leaders, presentations by tourism industry experts and in-depth interviews with local tourism-oriented businesses.

The final component, the Tourism Action Plan, provides milestones, resource requirements, and performance measures for short and long-term tourism goals.

What are some of the research highlights?

The Tourism Impact study provided the first credible baseline estimate of tourism’s economic contribution to the local economy. Using high-quality data resources enabled us to identify what experiences to invest in, which visitor groups will provide the greatest return on investment, and how to develop Sicamous’ competitive advantage.

We were surprised at the impact tourism has on Sicamous and the Shuswap region. Sicamous accounts for over 21% of tourism assets in the Shuswap. In 2024, Sicamous hosted an estimated 71,400 visitors and realized $28.5 million in direct visitor spending. The study confirmed that tourism currently supports 331 jobs and forecasts 38 additional jobs by 2028. We are forecasting a 2% annual revenue growth target for the sector.

The community’s destination growth potential rests on the development of its hiking, culinary, culture, biking, and birding experiences, with hiking and biking having the highest potential.

The Splatsin First Nation is a key tourism partner for Sicamous and the full diversity of the Sicamous community is embedded into the plan. More meaningful engagement with the Splatsin is taking place, encouraging indigenous tourism product development and investment.

What are the Next Steps?

We’re currently working with three bike shops and two hotel developers that have shown interest in expanding based on the opportunities identified in the new Strategy. We are also providing local businesses with guidance on their expansion plans such as the addition of bike rentals to service the new Owlhead Mountain Bike Park and Shuswap North Okanagan Rail Trail.

Many of the strategies in the plan are actionable now and we expect to see tourism numbers increase significantly over the next one to three years. In the meantime, we have an amazing tool to inform future investment decisions, grant applications, and business case development.

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