• Tourism Resource Inventory
• Visitor Profile
• Strength and Weakness Analysis
• Tourism Issues

• What does Revelstoke have that would cause a tourist to want to visit?
• How do Revelstoke’s tourism resources differ from other, competitive destinations?
• Are existing support services (e.g., accommodation, food services, tour guides) adequate to service the tourism products Revelstoke would like to promote?

What Does Revelstoke Offer Tourists?

A review of Revelstoke’s tourism inventory indicates that the community has a range of natural and built resources to service visitors. These resources are summarized in Table 2-1.

• A number of years ago, Revelstoke participated in the provincial Downtown Revitalization Program, upgrading its downtown core and improving the profile of its heritage buildings. Inspired by the impact of the program on the visual appeal of the downtown core, many owners of heritage homes also upgraded the appearance of their homes. As a result, the community is quite visually appealing to visitors. The town’s heritage character is complemented by four, differently themed museums: Revelstoke Railway Museum, BC Interior Forestry Museum, Revelstoke & District Museum and Archives, and Firemen’s Museum. As a millennium legacy to the community, the City of Revelstoke constructed a gateway feature at the western access to Revelstoke with complementary design to the heritage theme of the downtown revitalization. These two prominent monuments are an attraction intended to draw visitors off the highway into the downtown core.
   
• In addition to Museums, visitors have twelve other built attractions in the Revelstoke area from which to choose: Craigellachie, Enchanted Forest, Beardale Castle, Three Valley Gap, Canyon Hot Springs, Halcyon Hot Springs, Hill Creek Spawning Channel, Bridge Creek Spawning Channel, Revelstoke Dam Visitor Centre, Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre, Powder Springs Ski Resort and Revelstoke Golf Course.
   
• There are two National, five Provincial and two Municipal parks in the Revelstoke area. The two National Parks (Mount Revelstoke and Glacier) serve as a significant tourism draw and support a wide range of outdoor recreation activities (hiking, ski touring, wildlife viewing etc.). More than 30,000 visitors travelled the Mount Revelstoke Parkway in 2001 (May to October), while more than 500,000 visit Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks annually. Information provided by BC Parks during 1999 and 2000 indicate that on average there were 30,000 visitors to Blanket Creek Provincial Park and 26,000 visitors to Martha Creek Provincial Park during the months of May to September.
   
• The Revelstoke area offers visitors a mix of summer and winter activity options ranging from hiking to heli-skiing and hunting to rock climbing. The quality of the resources which support some of these activities attracts visitors from both short and long distance markets (e.g., 40% of heli-skiers come from Europe and 55% come from the U.S.; 75% of cat skiers come from outside B.C.; and 60% of mountaineers come from the U.S. while 35% come from eastern and central Canada). There are several companies based in Revelstoke which service visitors interested in participating in soft and hard adventure activities. These include several helicopter companies, snowmobile rental/tour operators, horseback operators, river rafting operators, fishing tour operators, backcountry operators, heliski and catski operators, and bike tour rental/operators. A number of these operators are well known in the American and European markets.
   
• The Revelstoke area has a total of 70 accommodation properties providing 1355 beds/rooms and 978 campground sites. This inventory indicates that Revelstoke can accommodate approximately 4,000+ guests on a daily basis (assuming double occupancy) during the summer months, and approximately 2,500+ during the winter months (when campgrounds are unavailable).
   
• Of existing fixed roof accommodation facilities there are 21 hotels and motels, 16 B&Bs, 5 cottages/resorts, 1 hostel and 7 backcountry lodges located in the Revelstoke area.
   
• Twelve campgrounds managed by the public sector provide 242 sites, and nine commercially operated campgrounds offer 736 sites for outdoor enthusiasts.
   
• It is difficult to get defensible month by month occupancy rate estimates from accommodation operators. Awareness of occupancy would help identify those months during which excess capacity is likely to be available and assist in preparing strategy recommendations. It appears that some of the larger properties are close to or at capacity during the summer and during prime heli-ski and snowmobile season in the winter, while smaller and/or older properties generally have space available in all but the peak summer season.
   
• Revelstoke has 38 restaurants (including three at Three Valley Gap Resort) from which visitors can choose. Of these restaurants, thirteen are family, nine are ethnic, four are fast food, four are fine dining, three are pubs, and the remainder are cafeterias, coffee houses, delis, etc.
   
• Several facilities in town can accommodate groups of up to 300 people.

* From Revelstoke Area Tourism Profile (Revelstoke Economic
  Development Commission), August 1995. Updated 2003

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