Like any destination, tourism comes with an array of side effects for the receiving community. Below are some of the positive, as well as negative, impacts that tourism has on the community of Tofino. 

Leeenna. (2018). Impacts of tourism. [Slide]. https://www.slideshare.net/LEEENNA/ch-1-gw-3-impacts-of-tourism

Positive Impacts: 

1. Tourism in Tofino employs nearly 2,700 direct jobs in the industry, with over 1,200 of those jobs being in the accommodation sector (InterVISTAS, 2019 p.27). 

2. Tofino generates $57 million in taxes from tourism activities which contributes to the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government (InterVISTAS, 2019 p.7). 

3. Tourism in Tofino provides $60 million in direct wages to employees of the tourism industry (InterVISTAS, 2019 p.27). 

4. Visitor spending at locally owned businesses is significant, especially in the food and beverage sector. This is the same for day and overnight visitors. (InterVISTAS, February 2019 p.17).

“66.1% of visitors spend money at local restaurants, food trucks, and coffee shops.”

A local favourite, the Tacofino Food Truck. It used to be a laid-back West Coast experience to grab a burrito post-surf session, but a summer trip to the truck these days promises huge crowds and 2+ hour waits. Tacofino Vancouver. (2018). Tofino Tacofino Truck. [Digital Image]. https://twitter.com/tacofinovan/status/1004076065646505984
5. Tofino hosted over 600,000 visitors in 2018 which is approximately 300 visitors per every 1 resident (InterVISTAS, 2019 p.28). This provides a substantial contribution to the local economy. 

Negative Impacts: 

1. Residents feel like their community is losing its sense of place (Dodds & Rogers, 2012 p.57).  

“About half felt that tourism, although a good livelihood for tourism business owners, does not give back to the community and the sense of place is in jeopardy.”

2. 50-80% of revenues are made in the summer months of July and August making it highly seasonal even with the demand for storm watching in the off-season (Dodds & Rogers, 2012 p.57). 

Construction, along with huge crowds of people trying to reach Tofino this summer meant long delays. Sinn, S. (Blogger). (2020). Tofino in the age of Covid.  [Photograph]. https://livinglibraryblog.com/tofino-in-the-age-of-covid/
3. Leakage is a large challenge as many services are not offered in Tofino. This means that many of the services that tourists need are being outsourced to other communities (Dodds & Rogers, 2012 p.57). 

4. There is a concern from locals that there is a lack of community infrastructure (e.g. recreation centre) and that monies are being spent on tourism facilities rather than the community (e.g. public washrooms) (Dodds & Rogers, 2012 p.59).  

5. There is increasing concern over second homes being illegally used as accommodations and staff housing which takes accommodations away from locals (Dodds & Rogers, 2012 p.59).

“There is currently no regulation to limit the number of beds in vacation homes. It is estimated that 40% of housing in Tofino is second homes. 46% of all properties (not just residential) have a mailing address outside of Tofino for the property tax bill. There is also a concern that B&B and second homes are providing tourist accommodations but are not contributing taxes.”

References 

Dodds, R., & Rogers, T. (2012). Sustainable Tourism: A Hope or a Necessity? The Case of Tofino, British Columbia, Canada. Journal of Sustainable Development, 5(5), 54-64. https://doi.org/10.5539/jsd.v5n5p54  

InterVISTAS Consulting Inc. (2019, February 20). Visitor Intercept Survey Results – Tofino, BC. https://tourismtofino.com/about-us/.  

InterVISTAS Consulting Inc. (2019, March 4). FINAL REPORT – The Official Tourism Tofino. https://tourismtofino.com/about-us/. https://tourismtofino.com/wp-content/uploads/019/05/Economic-Impact-of-Tourism-in-Tofino-2018-4Mar2019.pdf.