Adventure Tourism
This website provides information on adventure tourism activities that are carried out on provincial Crown land.
At this site, you will find information about:
- Choosing adventures as a participant
- Starting an adventure tourism business
- How the Crown land tenure system works
- The Adventure Tourism Branch
Adventure tourism is also known as nature-based tourism or commercial recreation, and involves people experiencing British Columbia’s natural environment through a variety of guided outdoor activities.
Adventure tourism is defined as outdoor recreational activities provided on a fee-for-service basis, with a focus on experiences associated with the natural environment.
Crown lands have been used for commercial recreation for more than 100 years. Before 1998, there was no policy to regulate commercial recreation use on Crown land, except for mechanized ski guiding and commercial hunting and fishing activities.
In 1998, after eight years of industry and stakeholder consultation, the British Columbia government adopted a commercial recreation management program that required existing and new recreation operators to acquire tenures for the provincial Crown lands they needed or were already using.
The policy now includes a wide variety of activities. Some examples are:
- Nature viewing
- River rafting
- Sea kayaking
- Horse pack trips
- Off-road cycling tours
- Heli-hiking
- Cross-country skiing
