I had the privilege of joining the grand opening of the Sea to Sky Gondola. This is an amazing piece of engineering, architecture and a real game changer for the Squamish tourism sector. I want to thank the Sea to Sky Gondola for recognizing the merits of investing in Squamish and being willing to take on the risks of such a venture. I have already been up three times and highly recommend the experience to any who have yet to go. The gondola is receiving fantastic exposure throughout North America and, I imagine, the world.
This attention will be a real benefit for our other tourism partners and the many spin-off support businesses.
The Squamish Valley Music Festival is also a huge attraction that brings very positive attention to Squamish and has significant economic spin-off benefits to our local economy. Projects like these are providing Squamish with recognition throughout North America. This exposure is leading to investors exploring and recognizing the tremendous opportunities that Squamish has to offer.
It is also leading to a real desire of people to move here to live, especially when we also combine this with the amazingly long and varied list of outdoor recreation activities available. Those of us who already live here recognize that it is an amazing place to live and raise a family, but now the rest of the world is also beginning to recognize it. I can honestly say that every time I am out of town, people I meet tell me how lucky I am and that they would love to live here.
Both increasing our visitors and the number of local residents is the key to the success of our downtown transformation initiative. Higher density with more people living downtown will generate greater demand for retail shopping opportunities, which in turn will justify property owners investing in new buildings that will be occupied by successful small businesses.
Before the Olympics, there was a real buzz and significant investment in residential real estate developments. I would assess that somewhat euphoric time as “if you build it they will come”; however, they did not come. The current situation is the exact opposite and is more a “they are coming and so we need to build it” situation. An added dimension at this time is the interest in our industrial land base, with the potential of creating good-paying local jobs. Squamish truly is a great place to live, learn, work and play!
