The Township of Langley has decided to stay with Tourism Langley.
The decision comes after an October resolution by council to have staff engage with hotels and other stakeholders on the possibility of starting a new Township-centric tourism body.
Tourism Langley, which is funded through a provincial hotel tax, has served both the City and the Township of Langley for the last nine years.
“The whole idea in the beginning was to check with our stakeholders, our hoteliers, and get their input,” Mayor Jack Froese told the Times.
“And the input we heard was that, for the most part — and there were a couple that had, I think there were maybe two that said they wanted to have something different — but the message I was hearing was if there’s some issues, tweak it, fix it, let’s carry on.
“I didn’t get an overwhelming ‘Yes, this is a wonderful thing, let’s do it.’ And that held a lot of weight with council.”
Tourism Langley’s agreement expires on Aug. 1, 2017.
Council made the decision to stay with the organization on Jan. 16, with the following amendments:
• the inclusion of two Township council representatives with weighted voting rights;
• the inclusion of a Township staff liaison to Tourism Langley as an ex-officio member;
• the inclusion of Township representatives on the executive director selection committee;
• scheduled reviews of Tourism Langley’s governance at year four of the five-year tourism bylaw renewals; and
• enhanced financial reporting.
Prior to the decision, Tourism Langley’s executive director Deborah Kulchiski resigned.
Kulchiski had served as head of the destination marketing organization since it launched in 2007. Her last day was Dec. 23, 2016.