leadership in action February 10-14, 2003 Society key part of growth MOVING THE George Lit- tle house downtown. Attracting cruise ship passengers from Prince Rupert to Terrace on day trips. Lighting up Terrace each Christmas. It’s all part of creating a thriving tourism industry in* Terrace and the Terrace Tourism Society is part of the effort. It has just celebrated its first anniversary as a stand alone society and conti- nues its close connections with the city, the chamber of commerce and the Ter- race Economic Develop- ment Authority. “There is a lot very creative thinking going on: out there, It’s all a matter of putting it together,” says Krystal Piper, ils new executive director. As is the case with the other agencies, the tourism society has seized on the cruise ship potential. The overall goal is to develop a system whereby passengers alighting in, Prince Rupert for a day’ can journey to Terrace, see the sights and then re- tum. “Whether it be some- thing centred around the George Little house or at: Heritage Park, for in- stance, remains to be seen,” said Piper. “What we know is that this is our shot,” she added of the cruise ship passen- ger potential. - Aside from the cruise passenger potential, Piper said the society is happy with the Christmas light up last December at Heritage Park, Combined with _ its Christmas parade down- town, the goal is to pro- vide a local and regional tourism draw. “I know the businesses who took part in the light up at Heritage Park were happy,” said Piper. Businesses sponsored and decorated the build- ings at the park. “It's a good idea we hope it can continue,” Piper suid. “And the parade is very popular, It’s a bit unusual to have a parade at night. People love the lights.” Also planned for a re- peat is a Hallowe'en event at Heritage Park. Using Heritage Park in co-operation with the Ter- race Regional Museum Society is the kind of part- nership viewed essential to promote the city and area. “It has a lot of outside space,” said Piper of the park’s grounds. And there's good parking. In addition to the above, the society fulfils a CINDY HANSEN, Reyann MacDonnell and Darryl Tucker were among those who helped decorate Heritage Park for Christmas as the museum society and Terrace Tourism Society brought a new event to the cily last year. regular and on-going func- tion by responding to re- quests for information from people planning visits to the area, promotes the area by attending trade shows or having material displayed at trade shows on its behalf. “A lot of times we get people who want to come for a specific purpose — fishing, camping or to take the ferry [from Prince Rupert],” said Pyper. Most of the requests for information the society — gets come from within the province. ‘member § Proud: Watch for it A NEW web site, firstbusiness.ca, is due to launch next month, providing interactive business infor- mation and services to a growing number of abori- ginal entrepreneurs in British Columbia. The start-up rate for B.C. aboriginal business is more than twice the national average, and while aboriginal entrepreneurs can be found in every part of Canada, two out of three are operating in this province. B.C.’s aboriginal youth are leading the way. They are two and one-half times more likely to start their own businesses than Canadian youth in general, Aboriginal business is often small business. Ac- cording to Industry Canada, 54 per cent of private- ly owned aboriginal businesses have no full-time employees, while 38 per cent have one to four em- ployees and seven per cent have between five and 19 employees. The new web site will use a series of “story- based narratives” to provide information and invite participation in an entrepreneurial process that can change people’s lives. The site will exploit the power of the Internet to reach out to aboriginal business people living in ‘every part of the province — on the back roads, in coastal inlets and in the inner city. Featuring workshops, templated business plans, financing tips and plain language how-to guides, firstbusiness.ca will be organized in a logical, easy-to-access style that encourages interactive learning and exploration. People will be able to click on an email Help Section, as well as go to a series of Links specific- ally designed to help aboriginal entrepreneurs start their own businesses, Key words and phrases will link to a Glossary, written in plain language without accounting jar- gon. Sound and video clips will illustrate the dra- matic story of B.C.’s aboriginal entrepreneurial spirit. 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