Orchardist turns land into RV park

By Kathy Michaels - Kelowna Capital News - April 30, 2008 (Full Article)

On the edge of his orchard, where the apple blossoms don’t flourish, Reg Tomiye is branching into a new business. Instead of continuing to foster the trees on the one acre of his south Kelowna property that has never turned a profit, he created 10 RV camping sites that offer everything from Internet access to cable TV. And while those high tech amenities aren’t necessarily the first things that come to mind when one pictures this valley’s orchards, Romiye said that may be changing soon as demand for RV spots is increasing while agriculturists, like him, struggle to find new ways to make ends meet. “We needed to generate additional revenue that’s not from farm operations and we did some research on the ALR…just finding out what was permitted for usage.” In his research he came upon some information about agritourism options in providing RV sites. He mulled the idea over and decided to move forward with research and market analysis to see if it was a viable business plan. “After talking to Tourism Kelowna with regards to some of the older sites in Kelowna closing, I thought it would be a good idea to add this,” he said. “There’s a very limited supply of parking sites available, and the ones that are available are being turned over to condominiums—so the pressure is on.”

Nancy Cameron, the CEO of Tourism Kelowna, tallied up exactly how many spots there are in the city, and noted that including the provincial spots, there are 971 campsites available, which is too few for the current demand. To help address problems stemming from that shortfall, Cameron explained that Tourism Kelowna took part in a working group with the provincial government that analyzed what and where the gaps in service were. Their findings were released in a report titled RV Park Development in B.C.

Among the list of suggestions is the possibility that agriculturists have more than 10 camping sites. As for Tomiye, he’s just starting out his RV site which opened last week, and he’s hoping to see brisk business. Already he’s getting bookings far into the summer and visitors to his site last week already complimented him on the serenity his site. And while he thinks that it’s an option that may benefit a number of orchardists, he’s hoping he can keep his corner of the market for a little while longer, as the idea is catching on. “Already I have heard the city has had a number of applications to do this,” he said. For more information Tomiye’s site, go to www.appleorchardrvpark.com.