Rossland has received over $71,000 to support local tourism projects.
The funding is part of the government’s Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI) and is available to the resort communities of Fernie, Golden, Harrison Hot Springs, Invermere, Kimberley, Osoyoos, Radium Hot Springs, Revelstoke, Rossland, Sun Peaks, Tofino, Ucluelet, Valemount, and Whistler.
In Rossland, the fund is managed by Tourism Rossland, and Deanne Steven, the organization’s executive director, presented the budget for the fund to city council last week.
The money pays for the Spokane shuttle bus and the internal shuttle bus. There’s also a portion dedicated to the improvement of the visitor centre at the museum, and to creating and replacing tourism-oriented signage around town.
Steven presented new signs for Pioneer Park to council last week, which will be payed for using the RMI money, but council hesitated to approve the signs because they hadn’t been reviewed by the Heritage Commission, and because a name change is being discussed for the park.
Since then, Steven’s has received approval for the new trail sign that will appear in Pioneer Park, but is still waiting for the contents of the other two signs—one that has the name of the park, and one that has a small bit of history—to be reviewed and approved.
Rossland has been participating in the RMI program since 2007, and this year the government provided a total of $10.5 million between the 14 eligible communities. While that may sound like a large amount, in previous years the amount available was based on a percentage of a community’s hotel tax, whereas this year the amount has been capped.