Penticton’s economic development office heading into a busy fall season

PENTICTON – This fall promises to be a busy time for Penticton’s Economic Development office.

Economic development officer Colleen Pennington says she is working on several initiatives in addition to preparing for the GoMedia convention slated for Sept. 27 to Oct.1 at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre.

One of those projects is the Virtual Work campaign, a $50,000 effort targeted at recruiting residents to the area.

“An ongoing challenge is 'what do I do for work' not only as an individual, but as a spouse coming with someone who has a job,” Pennington says.

The virtual work campaign is strategic, to help start growing the city’s base of people who bring their work with them, as well as to help their spouse access virtual working careers in the region.

Pennington says her office is also currently working with Tourism Penticton on a number of initiatives.

“Tourism is the front piece of getting people to know Penticton exists,” she says. Her department is working with tourism and the Summerland on an in-market, in-person promotion of the area, slated to take place next spring.

“We’re taking more of a collaborative and regional approach, looking for those opportunities,” she says.

The weakened Canadian dollar and the high cost of U.S. medical insurance has opened potential opportunities for attracting Canadian snowbirds to the region for the winter as an alternative to going south.

“We should actually start bragging about our winter instead of not talking about it,” she says, noting there are stories to be told and factors in the city’s favour to get people to consider wintering in Canada, particularly Penticton.

Pennington says the city is “in really good hands” with the volunteer committee readying Penticton for the upcoming GoMedia convention.

“The volunteer committee is unbelievable, doing a phenomenal job of making sure everything will be ready, as well as ensuring the experience will be memorable,” she says.

The GoMedia convention is expected to draw hundreds of international media to the city later this month. The delegates will have time to explore the area on special tours.

“We’re really feeling quite confident the kind of things the team over at Tourism Penticton are working towards are really going to make us shine,” she says.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.