Last year, the number of people visiting Bowen Island doubled. This year the island is on track for a repeat performance.
“It’s unbelievable,” says Murray Atherton, the chair of Tourism Bowen. “We’ve had people from all around the world.”
The board recently hosted a “familiarization tour” for Chinese bloggers who came and discovered the island. Their stories about Bowen have been read by 1.3 million people.
He and Bruce Russell have also been concentrating on attracting people from the North Shore by going to various events and trade shows to spread the word.
“Eighty per cent of the people say, ‘Oh, Bowen. I was there 20 years ago,’” he says. Now their interest is being revitalized.
With the American exchange rate adding 30 per cent to any trip across the border, staycations close to home have become increasingly popular.
Another huge part of Tourism Bowen’s success is the popularity of its “The secret is out” campaign.
Atherton knows that not every islander is as thrilled with the number of visitors, and the impact they have on ferry travel. Chinese visitors can sometimes be part of large groups of 40 to 50 people and the ferry’s capacity is around 450.
The reason Chinese visitors tend to travel as a group is language, Atherton says. “North Americans can go anywhere in the world and speak English. The Chinese cannot go everywhere and speak Manderin and be understood. They have to do it in groups because it’s just too difficult to do it individually.”
