Danielle Roscher is better known in the area as Dee Rock. She is a rock climber, adventurer and serial entrepreneur. And she was one of three Northern BC businesses awarded a $3000 grant as seed funding to develop her new tourism business.
The money was awarded through the Northern BC Spark Program, a collaboration of Destination British Columbia, Northern BC Tourism Association, Tourism Prince George, Tourism Prince Rupert, Tourism Terrace, Tourism Smithers, Tourism Dawson Creek, the Community Futures offices of Northern BC, and the Tourism Innovation Lab.
Roscher says she plans to use the money to move from guiding—which she is currently doing—to operating a more full-service tourism business, arranging for accommodations and trips for visitors in the region.
“I want to separate the guiding and fitness parts of my business, then add the tour company portions,” says Rosher. “I want to bring together all the businesses that are catering to tourism, not just in Tumbler Ridge, but in Northeast BC and Northwest Alberta, and create packages and products that would make it easier for out of town—or province or country—visitors to dream about, to plan, to purchase and then to experience.”
Her long term plan is building a small team that offers amazing experiences in this area. “It would include everything from flights and accommodation, to adventures and eating out.”
That new company already has a proposed name: Untamed Tours. The plan is to work with existing businesses to create packages. “I’m hoping to collaborate with all the pre-existing businesses in the area to put together these experiences.”
As part of that, Rosher has cracked a nut that tourism operators have been working on for the last couple of decades. She has secured a contract with Discovery Canada Tours to start bringing international visitors to Tumbler Ridge, something that tourism operators have been trying—and failing—to do for the last two decades.
Still Rosher doesn’t expect this will turn Tumbler Ridge into the next Whistler, nor is she hoping it will be. “It’s nice to have a niche spot for people who are tired of the really busy parks like Jasper and Banff, who want something more remote, something a little bit more wild…let’s call it and a little bit off the grid. That being said, they will need someone to act as a … well, I use the word concierge. That would be my role. Let’s say you want to visit someplace remote in Canada. It’s going to be hard, and possibly a bit scary. There’s people who are intimidated about coming because they don’t know how to get here. They don’t know where to stay once to get here. They don’t know what’s offered. And they like to travel with a group because they’re afraid of animals. They’re afraid of getting lost. So I want to be the bridge for these people. I want to get people that are looking for those niche experiences to come and have that experience.”
The first offering for Untamed Tours will be “A Taste of Tumbler”, which will be three or five day Stay and Play Packages.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
