TIABC’s Voice of Tourism Podcast – Episode 48 – Matt Jennings

Meet Matt Jennings, Director of the BC Fishing Tourism Association, for a wide-ranging conversation with former TIABC CEO Walt Judas as he chats about fishing, rural tourism, and the future of BC’s angling sector.

Matt shares how growing up in the small community of Little Fort, where his father ran a fly shop on Fishing Highway 24 for over 30 years, eventually led him back to the fishing world after years of traveling, working in silviculture, and living part-time on a Caribbean island off the coast of Nicaragua. What started as a part-time marketing gig with the association grew into a full-time role leading advocacy and the provincial Fishing BC marketing campaign on behalf of roughly 150 freshwater resorts and angling guides.

He also reflects on what rural tourism means in BC, calling his stakeholders “pioneers” who have been drawing visitors to remote corners of the province for generations, and makes a case for keeping fish and wildlife management in the hands of passionate non-profits rather than government bureaucracy.