TIABC Voice of Tourism Newsletter – March 13, 2026

One of the most haunting short stories I have ever read is The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. It was assigned in one of the many literature classes I took during university. I will spare you the full plot summary, but if you have not read it, I highly recommend it. It is unsettling in the best way, not because of shock value, but because of what it reveals about human behaviour.

At its core, the story is about people doing something simply because it has always been done that way. No one questions it. No one pauses long enough to ask whether it still makes sense. The ritual continues, even when parts of it feel uncomfortable, outdated, or even wrong. The justification is simple and chilling: “We’ve always done it this way.”

I am the first person to acknowledge that change is difficult. It is uncomfortable. It disrupts routines and forces us to re-examine systems we have grown accustomed to navigating. But without change, there is no evolution, and without evolution, there is no growth. So, what does a mid-century short story have to do with tourism in BC? Quite a bit, actually.

Last week’s announcement and launch of the Look West Tourism Sector Action Plan got me thinking. The plan lays out 5 pillars, including marketing, transportation, destination events, investment attraction, and enabling growth by reducing barriers to development. All 5 matter. However, if I am being candid, it is the pillars focused on attracting investment and enabling growth that deserve particular attention right now. This is where the conversation often stalls.

Last week, I had the opportunity to sit down with several investors. Serious investors. People prepared to commit capital to much-needed tourism infrastructure across BC. These were multi-million-dollar projects with funding secured, public support in place, Indigenous partnerships established, and in some cases, shovel ready. And yet, again and again, the same word surfaced in conversation: red tape.

The concern was not lack of vision, lack of demand, or lack of capital. It was the inability to navigate permitting processes that feel opaque, prolonged, and at times disconnected from practical realities. Projects that align with community interests and economic development goals find themselves stalled in systems that have been in place for years, sometimes decades. These systems have accumulated layers of procedure without a clear understanding of why each layer exists.

When you ask why a particular step is required, the answer can sometimes sound eerily familiar. “That’s just how it’s done.” It begins to feel like the bureaucratic version of The Lottery. Not malicious. Not intentionally obstructive. But procedural for the sake of procedure. Tradition without examination.

To be clear, oversight and regulation are not the enemy. Environmental protection matters. Indigenous consultation matters. Community input matters. Accountability matters. But efficiency matters too. If we are serious about growing tourism sustainably, and if we are serious about distributing economic opportunity across the province, then we must be equally serious about ensuring that our systems enable responsible development rather than unintentionally preventing it.

The Look West Tourism Sector Action Plan signals an intention to address this. It recognizes that investment attraction and barrier reduction are not secondary issues. They are central to the sector’s ability to evolve. That is encouraging, because tourism in BC is not static. It is dynamic. Visitor expectations change. Markets shift. Climate realities evolve. Infrastructure ages. Communities grow.

If our processes do not adapt alongside these realities, we risk protecting systems more fiercely than we protect opportunity.

I have heard optimism from investors, from tourism operators, and from Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities who want to see thoughtful development move forward. They are not asking for shortcuts. They are asking for clarity, transparency, predictable timelines, and processes that make sense. In short, they are asking for systems that reflect the world we are operating in today, not the one that existed when those systems were first created.

Change is not comfortable. It rarely is. But if we continue to do things simply because we always have, we risk standing still while the rest of the world moves forward.

The opportunity before us is significant. BC has the natural assets, the market demand, the investor interest, and the community support. What remains is ensuring that our frameworks align with that potential. We do not need to rewrite the entire story, but we may need to question a few of the rituals.

That, perhaps, is where real progress begins.

Amber Papou

CEO, TIABC