Resident Research
British Columbia Resident Research
Market monitoring and reports relevant to BC residents’ perspectives on the tourism industry.
Resident Perceptions of Tourism Survey: 2025-2026 Call for Partnerships
Destination BC is inviting Regional and City Destination Management Organizations (RDMOs and CDMOs) to participate in the 2025-2026 Resident Perceptions of Tourism Research Survey, scheduled for fall 2025. This research is an opportunity for RDMOs and CDMOs to gain valuable insights into how residents perceive economic, social/cultural, environmental, job/career, and Indigenous impacts of tourism within their communities.
Why Participate?
Tourism contributes significantly to community well-being and local economic growth across BC. Understanding how residents view tourism ensures that tourism strategies are aligned with resident values at the community level, helping to strengthen positive relationships between residents and the tourism sector. By partnering with Destination BC, RDMOs and CDMOs can leverage this research to access data that supports informed, community-focused, and resident-aligned decision-making.
Partnership Opportunities
The survey offers three partnership opportunities:
Partnership Opportunity #1
- Larger communities (with over 100 respondents in last year’s survey) can purchase 1 to 3 custom questions, or add sample specific to their needs, for inclusion in Destination BC’s survey. This helps gather targeted insights, with detailed analysis and reporting provided by Destination BC to support deeper understanding of how residents view tourism.
- Deadline: Contact Gazal Dhillon at [email protected] by Friday August 1, 2025 to participate..
Partnership Opportunity #2
- Communities already conducting their own Resident Perceptions of Tourism research can align their efforts with Destination BC’s survey by using the ‘Key 15 Questions’ outlined in Destination BC’s Resident Perceptions of Research Toolkit, helping to improve data consistency and comparability. By submitting their findings to Destination BC, participants will receive a detailed, complimentary report with analysis.
- Deadline: Contact Gazal Dhillon at [email protected] by Friday August 29, 2025 to discuss next steps for this opportunity.
Partnership Opportunity #3
- Communities new to resident perceptions of tourism research can receive guidance from Destination BC and use the Resident Perceptions Research Toolkit to lead and launch data collection efforts in their own community.
- Deadline: For more information and to begin your resident perceptions research journey, contact Gazal Dhillon at [email protected] by Friday August 29, 2025.
The availability of partnership opportunities may vary by community, subregion, or region. To secure your participation, please contact Gazal Dhillon at [email protected] by the above deadlines.
By participating, RDMOs and CDMOs gain access to community-specific data and analysis that can inform strategic planning, highlight key opportunities and considerations, and support stronger, more informed relationships with residents.
BC Resident Perceptions of Tourism Snapshot Series Reporting
Annual Resident Perceptions Report
Research Toolkit - Developing and Designing Research Studies: Examining Resident Perceptions of Tourism in British Columbia
This reporting series presents BC resident perceptions of the economic, social/cultural, environmental, job/career, and Indigenous impacts of tourism at the provincial, regional, sub-regional, and local level. It shares important insights on how residents view tourism in specific areas, like cities with large enough population for local-level reporting. The series includes a BC-wide report, six regional reports, sub-regional reports, and local reports. Download the pdf reports by year using the filter section below.
💡Looking for jpeg versions of the Snapshot Series for sharing on social media and in presentations? DOWNLOAD HERE ➡
*PLEASE NOTE: The Snapshot Series reporting does not directly compare cities, as the purpose of this research is to inform and educate, not instill competition at the community level.
Destination BC’s Annual Resident Perceptions of BC’s Tourism Industry Survey is conducted with BC residents across all six tourism regions to understand perceptions of the economic, social/cultural, and environmental impacts of tourism. DOWNLOAD 2024 REPORT ➡
This free toolkit, available for destination management organizations throughout BC, is designed to equip communities and the tourism industry with a framework that provides a consistent, credible, and robust measure of resident perceptions of tourism. It includes a step-by-step guide to help tourism partners conduct this type of research, including details to consider, how to determine the most suitable resident sentiment sampling methodology, which survey administrative tools to use, how to develop a survey, and recommended data analysis and reporting. DOWNLOAD TOOLKIT ➡
