In 2018, Community Futures Cowichan took the lead in bringing together the CVRD, the Town of Lake Cowichan and Ts’uubaa-asatx (Lake Cowichan) First Nations to create a Tourism Action Plan focused on hiking and cycling for the Cowichan Lake Region.
The now completed plan promotes collaboration in the business and community members and the creation of a more robust tourism identity for the Cowichan Lake region based on pumping up the volume on its acclaimed hiking and cycling assets. These actions aim at increasing the economic and social benefits of tourism.
While existing tourism experiences in the region draw visitors during peak summer months, the coordinated development of trail experiences is an opportunity to increase the inventory of remarkable experiences and increase visitation in the shoulder seasons.
The plan revealed an alignment between trail tourism as an economic development driver for the Cowichan Lake area that also has tremendous benefits for community wellness. Opportunities range from creating new market-ready trail experiences to an epic mountain biking course to improving trail and signage activities throughout the region. The plan also includes case studies of successful trail development in B.C., including the Shuswap Trails, the Sunshine Coast Trails and the Cumberland Trails.
In the wake of the Cowichan Lake Region Hiking & Cycling Tourism Action Plan’s completion, the Cowichan Lake Trail Blazers Society has formed to take up the cause of developing new trails infrastructure in the region. The new not-for-profit is rooting its efforts in economic development and in inviting the world to become part of a new trails network in the Cowichan Lake Region.
To find out more about the Cowichan Lake Trail Blazers, contact Bob Day at bobday@live.ca
The Cowichan Lake Region Hiking & Cycling Tourism Action Plan is available by clicking here.
