The “nice” times are over and in order for tourism areas to survive, those in charge of branding their communities need to embrace a new way of thinking, says an industry expert who spoke at the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association summit meeting this morning.

And when  Anna Pollock, the founder of the not-for-profit Icarus Foundation, said “nice,” she wasn’t referring to pleasantries. She meant a period of  Non Inflationary Constant Expansion.

“We’ve had 10 years of phenomenal economic growth because a rise in the global population and requirement for goods, with relatively cheap input costs,” she said.

“We had people realize that buying houses earned them more money than they were making in wages so they were buying second and third homes in nice places.”

Those opulent times also made way for a boom in the tourism industry as consumers doubled their wealth and, in droves, sought out new experiences abroad.

Posting figures from the World Trade Organization’s travel forecast, Pollock said  people were just trickling over international borders following the Second World War. By the time the recession hit, there were one billion travellers globe-trotting in their recreation time and by 2020, their measures of growth indicate there will be 1.6 billion international travellers— though she’s not so sure of that.

“Nothing in nature goes on indefinitely,” she said, noting that those who were banking on ownership of multiple homes can now barely afford one, let alone two. And caps on individual wealth ultimately affect tourism markets that already struggle with stagnancy.

“Look at Whistler and where its overnight visits levelled off,” she said. “They can’t punch through the million-person a night mark — no matter what they do it’s hovered around that mark for the last five or six years.”

If they don’t rethink their market and product composition, there will be a “natural decay” and the same goes for any tourism draw.

“B.C. is beautiful, but it’s not the best place on earth,” she said. “Every customer believes their home is the best place on earth — but (B.C.) is a special place worth visiting and staying.”

To illustrate where this valley may be falling short in branding itself, she projected familiar images of lakes, vineyards and hillsides. One could only think that they were from this neck of the woods, but they were actually images from destinations across the globe —highlighting that the lure of this region, isn’t always as distinct as one might think.

“You aren’t pulling in all the unique attributes of this place,” she said.  “The most important one is your values. What do we want Kelowna to look like in 2030?  Who do we want to enjoy it with. what kind of people aren’t welcome, what behaviors are tolerate and what aren’t… who are we?”

For tourism to continue to be profitable, she said, it has to offer an experience that’s unrivaled. And, the need will be even more pressing when as environmental concerns become more pronounced.

“We’ll reach peak oil around  2020,” she said. “That means we won’t get as much out of the earth as we need each year, and the end result of that is that oil will hit the $200 barrel mark. When we hit that you will look after customers in a much smaller area than you were before.”

With fewer visitors from far flung regions to work with, she said the focus will have to change to slowing visitors down and letting them savour all a community has to offer.  If that’s done well, and the consumer comes onside with the place it visits, that will also help in marketing endeavors.

These days the customer is king and has a wider sphere of influence than ever before. Using Twitter or Facebook one person could have a make a make-or-break impact on a business.

“Around 83 per cent of US consumers will trust opinions of friends and acquaintances … that’s putting all the emphasis back on the quality of the experience,” she said.