Tourism Delta will soon come under the umbrella of the Delta Chamber of Commerce.
Council at its Jan. 23 meeting discussed a report on the Community Resilience and Economic Recovery Support Team (CRERST), formed following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which noted a planned organizational change that will see the Delta Chamber of Commerce assume responsibility for Tourism Delta's scope of services.
The change will see oversight by a new tourism advisory committee of the Chamber, which will include representation from the current Tourism Delta board.
Tourism Delta currently operates as Delta's Destination Marketing Organization and manages the “We Love Delta” brand on behalf of CRERST under a $103,000 service agreement with the City of Delta, an agreement that expires in April.
The consolidation is to improve efficiencies, accelerate economic recovery and drive tourism growth in the community, the report notes.
The chamber currently operates the Delta Visitor Centre and provides economic recovery support to Delta businesses under a $63,000 service agreement with the city, an agreement also set to expire in April.
Under the new structure, to take effect in May the chamber would enter into a consolidated service agreement with the city to operate the visitor centre and the marketing organization, manage the “We Love Delta” brand and other tourism assets, as well as provide economic recovery support to Delta businesses.
The $103,000 in funding will go to the chamber, but details of the consolidation of the services are still being worked out.
Council also agreed with a recommendation to provide annual base level funding to support the Ladner Business Association with $15,000, with the same amounts to the North Delta Business Association and Tsawwassen Business Improvement Association, for lighting projects and community resiliency and business recovery initiatives from 2023 to 2026.
In April 2020, council directed staff to work with business stakeholders to provide support to Delta businesses and community organizations impacted by the pandemic.
To coordinate efforts, the City of Delta, Delta Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Delta, Tsawwassen Business Improvement Association, Ladner Business Association, and North Delta Business Association formed CRERST.
“As the pandemic has receded, CRERST members have returned to a larger focus on business as usual. With this focus shift, CRERST has transitioned to more of a project-based, community advisory team,” the report adds.
