As we emerge from the pandemic, more destination marketing organisations are questioning their purpose and how they can best support their community, with more organisations adopting a destination stewardship mandate. However, Vancouver Island has gone one step further and have transformed their tourism marketing organisation into a social enterprise. Before he joins us at City Nation Place Global, we caught up with Anthony Everett, CEO at 4VI, to discover what prompted the change and how they’re navigating the challenges along the way.

I have to begin with the big question. You recently transitioned the destination marketing organisation, Tourism Vancouver Island, to 4VI, a social enterprise. What prompted this move?

I have been involved in tourism in British Columbia for 30+ years and spent most of this time focused on growth and driving revenues. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I realised that my mindset had shifted to focus on sustainability and the impact of climate change and human inequity. I began exploring new models and ideas to renew our organisation and its focus.

In 2022, Tourism Vancouver Island, a sixty-year old destination management organisation, was the first in the world to change to a social enterprise model with a mission to ensure that travel is a force for good on Vancouver Island – forever. We unveiled the change to 4VI in early April.

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