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A new poll, conducted by the Angus Reid Institute and commissioned by Intrepid Travel, suggests fewer than half of British Columbians feel confident finding and choosing an Indigenous-led tourism experience.
The poll by the Angus Reid Institute found 47 per cent of British Columbian survey respondents are confident they know how to find and choose an Indigenous-led tourism experience.
On Vancouver Island, operators say they’re seeing the opposite during their busiest seasons yet.
Chyanne Trenholm, general manager of Homalco Wildlife and Cultural Tours located in Campbell River, said this has been the company’s best season in its 26 years of operation.
“It’s been a really really good season for us,” Trenholm said. “We started grizzly bear tours on [Aug. 10] and we’ve been seeing grizzly bears every day, which is really exciting.”
The Xwémalhkwu, or Homalco First Nation People, are known as ‘the people of the fast-running waters,’ according to Chyanne Trenholm. (Submitted by Chyanne Trenholm)
Owned by Homalco First Nation, the company has grown from offering just grizzly bear viewing to advertising 10 other experiences, including whale watching and cultural tours.
Trenholm said that growth doesn’t change what the company is there to do.
“We’re stewards of our land,” Trenholm said. “We get to share our stories our way, while out on the waters that we have been on since time immemorial.”
Homalco Tours, based out of Campbell River, is owned and operated by the Homalco First Nation. (Tyler Cave/Homalco Tours)
Indigenous-led tourism refers to a company or experience that is owned and operated by an Indigenous nation, community or individual.
The poll found 63 per cent of Canadian survey participants noted a lack of information to know where to begin to connect with Indigenous tourism.
Best season yet
Trenholm and the operators of two other Indigenous-owned tourism companies across the island said that the poll doesn’t necessarily match what they’re experiencing on the ground.
Melissa McClurg is the senior cultural tour guide with Songhees Tours. She said their walking tours and canoe tours — which stop at seven historic Lekwungen sites around Victoria — are as much about hosting as history.
“I think it’s important to gain an understanding of whose traditional lands that guests are visiting, and offering us a chance to be the good hosts that we’ve always been,” McClurg said.
“We share our language, our history, our culture … we’re finding guests who are just looking for somewhere to even just ask questions in a safe space.”
Melissa McClurg, senior cultural tour guide with Songhees Tours, said the best part of her job is watching cultural pride grow in the youth she works with. (Emilee Gilpin/CBC)Intergenerational stories
Mike Willie is the owner of Sea Wolf Adventures and co-owner of Coastal Rainforest Safaris, which both offer educational and cultural tours.
Willie thought of the concept of Sea Wolf Adventures during a spiritual fast he did in Kingcome Inlet, asking about how he could stay connected to his territories. He found an answer in a vision that turned into a business in 2013.
As business grew, he teamed up with Andrew Jones to operate Coastal Rainforest Safaris.
For Willie, the winter is when the team works to make people more aware of what they offer, investing in marketing strategies and travelling abroad to teach international travel agents how to sell Indigenous-led experiences.
“The off-season is getting ready for the next season,” Willie said. “We travel to the U.K., to Germany … we call them sales missions.
“We go in and we train their staff how to sell our product or sell our experiences, because that’s the key. If you work with the travel trade, they don’t necessarily know how to sell you.”
What he’s selling, Willie said, can’t be found anywhere else, because it isn’t a script.
Mike Willie, owner and operator of Sea Wolf Adventures and co-owner of Coastal Rainforest Safaris, says their team speaks to their history, names, family and culture, when showing guests their territories. (Submitted by Sea Wolf Adventures)
“We educate people from around the world who we are, where we come from, showing people our beautiful territory,” he said. “Tourism has been in the territories for well over 100 years, but it wasn’t us doing it.
“We’re not on the outside looking in anymore, we’re a part of it. What makes us unique is that we actually come from these waters and territories and we have stories that connect us.”
Willie said Indigenous tourism benefits not just guests, but the people employed as well.
“It’s to build capacity, train, employ and get people out in their own territory,” he said.
The Angus Reid survey was conducted in English and French, from July 24 to July 28, 2026, among a sample of 1,507 online Canadian adults who are members of the Angus Reid Forum.