Radium Hot Springs chamber 2016

This village chamber of commerce is looking ahead to an unusually busy summer

Tourism Radium, the Visitor Centre and the Radium Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce are conveniently located together on Highway 93/95 in Radium Hot Springs, B.C. — Marie Milner photo

To avoid duplicating the efforts of the Columbia Valley Chamber of Commerce (CVCC), the Radium Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce (RHSCC) sets its primary focus on tourism as well as business community support issues. As it happens, the businesses in Radium Hot Springs are predominantly tourism-oriented, so the business sector is very well covered.

“The two chambers work together,” said Kent Kebe, manager of the RHSCC. “We share information and concerns with the CVCC and we do go to meetings in Cranbrook when the B.C. Chamber of Commerce comes to the area.”

The RHSCC also works closely with Parks Canada, occupying a Parks Canada building situated on Highway 93/95. Chamber staff work elbow-to-elbow with Parks Canada personnel from the May long weekend to Thanksgiving, and in winter it is chamber staff who sell national park passes and distribute basic park information.

Tourism Radium is an arm of the RHSCC, which holds a contract with Destination BC to run the visitor centre in this shared space. The visitor centre is part of a province-wide network, and staff are happy to assist visitors with information and support for their travels throughout the province as well as their visit to Radium Hot Springs.

Kent Kebe manages the Radium Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Radium and the Visitor Centre in Radium Hot Springs, B.C. — Photo courtesy Kent Kebe

“This visitor centre is one of the busiest in the province,” Kebe said. “These last two winters have been unusually busy—just recently the BC Parks website crashed because there were about three times as many people trying to get on it as usual. If that’s an indication of how many people are looking to camp in provincial parks this year, it’s going to be a crazy summer.”

While most of the Radium chamber’s annual budget goes to support visitor services, RHSCC also participated with the CVCC in the the recent business walk held in the valley. The walk put chamber and municipal administration in face-to-face contact with business people in Invermere, Radium Hot Springs and the nearby communities, and included both chamber members and non-members. For Kebe, participating in the face-to-face interviews was a wonderful experience, and the information collected will be useful to the chamber board in planning future support for businesses.

Kebe said that if you like to be involved in the community, managing the chamber and the visitor centre and the tourism office is one of the best jobs there is.