Tofino, B.C., has re-evaluated its relationship with tourism since rebounding from COVID-19 travel spikes.Melissa Renwick
Tofino, a small surf town on Vancouver Island, has long been known for its breathtaking coastal beauty. The area’s ancient rainforests, rocky archipelagos and unique flora and fauna have wrested Canadians from across the country to the pristine shores of this town of 2,500, where tourism employs more than a third of the community.
But Tofino is wrestling with the very real impacts of its popularity, as pressure mounts to balance growing tourism with preserving the environment. So, it took matters into its own hands: It re-evaluated its policy on short-term rentals, began promoting low-impact travel and started encouraging “value over volume” when it comes to visitors.
“Tofino has been doing some really great things,” says Dr. Rachel Dodds, a sustainable tourism expert and professor at Toronto Metropolitan University who has specifically researched sustainability efforts in the region. “It’s a multistakeholder effort that reflects a maturing awareness of tourism’s footprint.”
A growing number of global destinations, from Venice to Amsterdam, are no longer rolling out the red carpet for visitors in a calculated policy shift meant to curb the unintended consequences of overtourism. Resident-led protests have brought on a new wave of “anti-tourism” and led to tourist taxes, short-term rental bans, cruise ship restrictions and prioritizing travel in lower-traffic parts of the city.
Much of this movement has taken place in Europe so far. “It is largely the historic city centres that are overcrowded, because they were never built for the volume of people brought by tourists who all want to tick off their bucket list attractions,” says Marion Joppe, a tourism professor at the University of Guelph and a veteran tourism researcher.
In Tofino, anti-tourism policies aim to protect not only the natural environment but also quality of life for full-time residents and, especially, the local Indigenous community. For example, the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation runs a program of over 100 businesses, called Tribal Parks Allies, that collects an ecosystem fee from customers that is reinvested into the community and local ecosystem. It also became one of the first municipalities in Canada to ban single-use plastics, and over 40 local non-profits are dedicated and actively working on restoration and conservation efforts.
Encouraging slow tourism in Tofino is a balancing act, with much of the local economy dependent upon visitors.Melissa Renwick
Tribal Parks Allies has led the charge in educating local businesses and tourists about the most sustainable ways to develop and participate in the tourism industry while respecting Indigenous land.
“Tofino benefits greatly from our Tribal Parks but only a small portion of businesses contribute to our Nation and our Tribal Parks, even though it costs our Nation a great deal of money to protect the drinking water that feeds the economic industry,” says Saya M. Masso, manager of lands and resources for Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation.
There’s a delicate balancing act at play, with much of Tofino’s local economy dependent on tourism. For instance, in late March, Tofino’s district council voted to back out of a 2024 provincial rule restricting short-term rentals. Tofino Mayor Dan Law says he was opposed to this shift, as short-term rentals price out the area’s own residents. Still, the motion – brought by Councillor Sarah Sloman due to fears over a tax penalty for those who don’t follow the rules and in preparation for a trade war – passed.
Tofino Mayor Dan Law says his aim upon election was to shift the district's relationship to tourism.Melissa Renwick
Since he was elected as mayor in 2021, Mr. Law says his key mission has been “to change the way tourism interacts with the community as a whole.” That’s largely been possible thanks to a healthy and collaborative relationship with Tourism Tofino, which has embraced the district’s desire for a sustainable and regenerative tourism plan.
Mr. Law says he’s seen a massive shift as a result. “At the height of COVID, Tofino experienced what it would be like when tourism was poorly managed,” Mr. Law says. “But the end result is that we were able to identify what parts of our local economy were having negative consequences and hit all of those sharp points.”
One of these points was around surging vehicle traffic that came with increased tourism, which created stress for local residents. So, the district developed a new multiuse path, functional for bikes and pedestrians.
Provincial tourism fees have also funded new infrastructure in town, including a sewage treatment plant, a park and playground, a free summer shuttle bus, sidewalk repairs, trail maintenance, bathroom facilities and even plans for a Biosphere Centre that will serve as a gathering place for Indigenous community members.
As U.S. travel boycotts mount, many Canadian towns may soon face headwinds similar to Tofino’s.Melissa Renwick
Ms. Joppe notes shifting sentiment around tourism isn’t new within Canada. “We might remember residents in Niagara-on-the-Lake pelting tour buses with rocks in the mid-‘70s,” she says. “These buses started driving through neighbourhoods to view the beautiful historic homes.”
What’s changed, she says, is the scale and the speed at which these pressures have mounted, partly due to social media, cheaper flights and the rise of short-term rentals like Airbnb.
“People become ‘anti-tourist’ if they feel crowded out of their regular stomping grounds,” Ms. Joppe says. “The paradox is that the same people do not see themselves as ‘tourists’ when they go to other places and expect to be welcomed.”
As tourism continues to rebound in the wake of COVID-19 and Canadian travel sentiment also shifts in light of a growing boycott of U.S. travel, more domestic destinations are likely to find themselves overwhelmed.
“It is mainly as a result of some major event that residents feel the negative impact of tourist expenditure and, suddenly, even their elected officials take a greater interest in this sector of the economy that impacts every part of a country,” Ms. Joppe says. She notes that Canadian resistance to American travel is looking “quite severe,” with tourism demand set to shift to other destinations within the country – creating what is known as “import substitution.”
Some cities could face headwinds. “Those built for and used to large numbers of visitors, like Niagara Falls, will likely take it in stride,” Ms. Joppe says. “But smaller ones, where infrastructure, accommodations, food services are constrained, may struggle with it more.”