The Travel Penticton Society now officially exists.
Members from the Penticton Hospitality Association and Tourism Penticton voted last Friday on the dissolution of the existing organizations. Bylaws were then approved for the new Travel Penticton Society which will lead the marketing efforts for the tourism industry in the city.
Read more: Tourism organizations prepping to merge
“The formation of a single tourism organization is something that many tourism stakeholders have been waiting for,” said Jessica Dolan, chair of Tourism Penticton. “A lot of time of effort has gone into making sure that the new Travel Penticton Society will be sustainable and support the interests of tourism as a whole.”
At the extraordinary general meeting the new branding that promises to revitalize the image of Penticton and Wine Country was revealed.
“The new branding page is Undiscovered Penticton. It is about creating experiences and finding those from tourism stakeholders, accommodators and people here in our community to create opportunities for vacationers and tourists as they come to Penticton,” said Barb Haynes, PHA president. “Undiscovered culture, adventure, flavour, winter. It is unlimited in terms of the application to show people what they can do when they come to Penticton.”
Travel Penticton is well underway for the search for a new executive director. Haynes said they had 53 applications for the position.
Before the PHA can completely dissolve the matter of two civil lawsuits must be resolved. Still, the Travel Penticton Society can start working on getting the new bylaws being registered, hiring of an executive director, submitting a budget to city council (which was done in September) and locking down where the visitors centre will be located.
“The Travel Penticton board will work together as one now and the PHA will be a smaller working board until the liabilities are satisfied,” said Haynes.
An annual general meeting is expected to occur for Travel Penticton early in 2017. There are 13 seats on the board, six will be up for election at that time to ensure there is some continuity on the board.
Haynes said the two groups combining forces is a very positive thing for Penticton.
“The PHA and its members have been strong community supporters working closely with many events and local groups, and maintaining those relationships is a priority. We see the opportunity of a collaborative organization and our combined focused efforts to promote Penticton as a win for all of our tourism accommodators and stakeholders,” said Haynes.