“We always said it would be a five-year plan and we’re just coming into our fourth year,” she said. “I’d say we’re on target.”
The association saw 4.2 per cent growth in site visitors over last year, which is encouraging, she said. They are also looking at between 240 and 270 members signed up this year. “We can look forward to more growth in our membership, particularly due to people now seeing what we’re doing.”
“It just underlines the total support from the mountain’s point of view as to our mandate and impact we’re having on the mountain, that they recognize the benefit.”
Tourism Mount Washington has re-established the Thanksgiving Owners’ Barbecue, which last year raised funds for the volunteer ski patrol. They have also been actively involved in bringing CNN to the mountain to cover events such as the Soldier On Festival and the work the Adaptive Snow Sports Program does.
Vince Schulley featured Mount Washington in a BC Ride Guide article in an Australian magazine, and Tourism Mount Washington’s accommodations were also featured on the Slopestyle television series that ran on CHEK News over eight consecutive weeks.
Nicholson hosted five freelance journalists from New York, Oregon, Calgary and Vancouver in the Comox Valley as part of an Alpine to Surf media familiarization trip sponsored by Tourism Assn. of Vancouver Island
Tourism Mount Washington has also partnered with Comox Airport in a “fly-drive” package in Alberta. It’s all about maximizing the Association’s budget creatively, to give the Resort as much exposure as possible, she said.
Earlier this year Tourism Mount Washington saw the return of Ghana’s “Snow Leopard”, skier Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, to Mount Washington Alpine Resort in January, to talk about twinning the Resort with his own Senkwa Mamfe Alpine Ski Resort.
Kwame is building a sand-based ski resort in Sub-Saharan West Africa, which will simulate the same skill set that North American skiers hone on snowy slopes.
Nicholson was also invited to represent the Resort community during the launch of the Ghana Ski Slope Project in the African country. Nicholson brought with her a videotaped greeting from Resort President Peter Gibson as well as a gift from Chief Ernie Hardy from the Komoks First Nation to present to His Royal Highness The Paramount Chief of the Mamfe Traditional Area in Ghana.
For a minimum investment, it’s a huge international networking opportunity,” she said, and it brought an international media focus to Mount Washington “which we wouldn’t have been able to get to keep Mount Washington at the forefront of major media houses.”