Tourism Tofino officials are excited they will continue to raise awareness of their district via a podcast.
Travel Beyond, a six-episode podcast series, was released earlier this year.
And Brad Parsell, the executive director of Tourism Tofino, is thrilled that more episodes will soon be produced.
“Part two of the podcast will be out in early 2025,” said Parcell, adding an agreement was reached this past Thursday, Aug. 29, to record a second season of the podcast.
Travel Beyond is produced by Destination Think, a Vancouver-based marketing agency.
Parsell, who is originally from New Zealand and is part Maori on his father’s side, has been Tourism Tofino’s executive director for almost two years now.
He was one of the guests on an episode of the podcast series earlier this year.
“Travel Beyond is focused on the relationship between Indigenous stewardship and conservation and tourism and how one impacts the other and how increasingly tourism is being leveraged to create resources for profits and nations to do stewardship,” he said. “We had multiple people from Tofino speak to different parts of that.”
Those included were members from Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation who spoke about the Tribal Parks Allies program. This entails businesses collecting a one-per-cent fee from the visitor and then remitting it to the First Nation to support restoration and stewardship work.
“A lot of my interview in particular focused around some of the work Tourism Tofino is doing and how we’re trying to educate visitors on whose territory they’re on and the history of stewardship and trying to invite visitors to leave something behind when they visit Tofino, whether that be a financial contribution to the nation or volunteering some time for a beach clean,” Parsell said.
He added that creating awareness about Tofino’s history is vital.
“I think people are already captivated and in awe of Tofino and the surrounding area,” Parsell said. “So, I think people are already engaged in the environment and have a willingness to learn. I think historically we really haven’t done a great job. Indigenous folks on the west coast have been marginalized from tourism for a long time.”
And that’s why Tourism Tofino officials are among those looking to make changes.
“I think it’s really powerful to look at this place through the lens of the First Nations and through that stewardship lens,” Parsell added. “I think ultimately the experience of the visitor is a lot richer. People come to Tofino for different reasons, so we’re just trying to make sure that they respect the place that they’re visiting.”
Tourism Tofino reps are not the only ones trying to raise awareness.
“I think there’s over 40 not-for-profits working in the environmental space out on the west coast of Vancouver Island,” Parsell said. “So, there’s no shortage of people really trying to chip into this effort.”
Parsell also said others have been taking the lead on this front.
“There have been roundtables facilitated by the Clayoquot Biosphere Trust of getting all of those groups together with the nations and Tourism Tofino and making sure we all know what each other is up to and trying to make that that we’re using our resources in sort of an efficient way,” he said.
Parsell said Tourism Tofino reps have also held separate meetings with officials from Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations “around Indigenous representation and correcting myths like this place is a wilderness. It isn’t. It’s been looked after for thousands of years.”
Earlier this summer Tourism Tofino also launched a new website.
“It’s really comprehensive and was an in-depth engagement with Indigenous elders to really try to reframe Tofino in that kind of lens,” Parsell said.
The Travel Beyond podcast has also garnered plenty of positive feedback Parsell added.
“Creating space just for Indigenous voices on the west coast has been really well received,” he said. “I think having Indigenous leaders speak about different initiatives that are happening, even just for the non-Indigenous community in Tofino has been really educational and eye-opening.
“And I think for visitors once again just letting them get a little bit deeper into the destination and the history of what makes this space so special. I think it’s been really-well received.”
Other guests on episodes of the first season of Travel Beyond included Moses Martin, an elder and former chief of Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, Ahousaht First Nation Tyee Ha’wilth Hasheukumiss, Richard George, Tla-o-qui-aht elder Joe Martin, Saya Masso, who is Tla-o-qui-aht’s lands and resource director, and Gisele Martin, who is a guardian and handles outreach for Tla-o-qui-aht’s Tribal Parks.
