Vancouver Island Nature Tours

It is near the end of November and business has dried up completely. But the weather hasn’t dried up! It’s coming down in torrents right now. So what does a tour operator do in the off season? Plan for next year!And I have put a bunch of irons in the fire.

First, Rainbird Excursions has partnered with Scott Walking Adventures to put on a week long hiking/walking adventure on Vancouver Island.  Scott Walking is from Nova Scotia and does a variety of tours in the Maritimes, Quebec, the Rockies as well as more exotic places like Iceland and the Bahamas. The owner has said she has received feedback indicating that there is a demand for trips on Vanvouver Island. And had been looking for an operator with similar ideals to partner with.

In addition, there are two cruise ships coming to Port Alberni this summer: Holland America’s Statendam, and the ResidenSea World. The World is more like a floating condo community than a real Cruise Ship, and it is very posh! So proposals for excursions and lots of paperwork, insurance and the like have to be prepared. This is a little different from the kind of tours Rainbird does normally. they are far more intimate than 40-passenger bus tours. But there isn’t much other capacity in Port Alberni to take on this task. Actually, that’s quite an attraction from the perspective of a visitor who wants to get off the beaten path a little.

Rainbird has also put a proposal in to Celebrity Cruiselines that come to Nanaimo in September and October. This time of year corresponds precisely with the time when large numbers of Chinook and Coho Salmon are migrating upstream to their spawning grounds. So this tour will take visitors to Stamp Falls to have a look at them. I expect it will be a welcome addition to the suite of excursions already offered in Nanaimo.

Rainbird Excursions is also planning a festival called the Salmon Homecoming Festival for the weekend after the Canadian Thanksgiving in October. It is just in it’s formative stages. One of the local first nations has suggested a ceremony to welcome and honour the returning salmon called the Miatt Ceremony. It is where peopel have a salmon feast, followed by dancing with masks and regalia. Then the bones of the salmon eaten are gathered up on Skunk Cabbage leaves and ceremonially returned to the river. Most of the events will be centred on the Robertson Creek Fish Hatchery. They will be in the midst of thier annual egg take from salmon returning to the hatchery. There will be tours of the hatchery, traditional canoe rides, and nature tours to see the spawning grounds, to see volunteer efforts to enhance salmon habitat and to Stamp Falls.

There’s more too: partnering with the Lady Rose, and Tigh Na Mara Resort in Parksville, reviewing the tour pricing to make family tours more affordable, budgeting, marketing, trade shows, website, special  excursions etc. Busy, busy!