The board of directors for Tourism Prince George has announced that CEO Colin Carson will step down from his role after four years in the position.
Carson said he will be pursuing other career opportunities and will officially leave the organization on Aug. 1.
He has worked with Tourism Prince George since 2017 and became CEO in July 2021.
Carson told The Citizen he plans to leave Prince George but will especially miss the people.
"I'm always blown away at just the friendliness of people in Prince George,” Carson said. “It's something I hear in my profession as well, but in my personal life you see it all the time. We have visitors come to the visitors’ centre who say, ‘Oh, I was just walking around, talking to people at Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park and they were just so friendly, asking where we were visiting from and how our day was going.’ That’s just what I feel in the community all the time — a truly welcoming group of people. It's going to be tough not to be around that.”
During his time as CEO, Carson played a key role in shaping the direction of the organization. He led the relocation of the visitor centre, oversaw the construction of Nanguz’An Market, and helped the agency recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Colin joined Tourism Prince George before the pandemic and has steered the organization and staff through some very challenging times with professionalism, compassion and strength,” said board chair Jamie Valcourt. “He has led the organization with energy, creativity and processes that have positioned Tourism Prince George well for the future.”
Carson said beyond the infrastructure projects, he’s especially proud of helping bring major sporting events to the city.
“The two big ones that I hold really fondly are the World Para Nordic Skiing Championships in 2019, which was such a cool event,” he said. “It was the first-ever World Championship, so I look back really fondly on that one.
“The other was the Women’s Curling Championships, which was supposed to be hosted in 2020. All the teams were supposed to arrive in Prince George just as the pandemic hit, so the event couldn’t take place. To have it return a couple of years later and finally host it in Prince George was really special.”
Carson also reflected on the broader benefits of tourism to the community.
“Our staff does a really good job of promoting the things that attract new people to Prince George,” he said. “And that increases the economic benefit to Prince George … I think we've done a really good job of showing the value of the tourism industry here. I'm really proud of that. I think what I’ll leave behind is the understanding that tourism is a really important sector here in Prince George — it employs a lot of people and contributes greatly to our local economy.”
Tourism Prince George’s new interim CEO will be Carmen Herman, who was the first person Carson hired when he took over in 2021 — something he described as a full-circle moment.
Carson said he has full confidence in her leadership.
"She’s awesome, and she’s going to do a really good job leading the team,” he said. “I don’t think she needs any advice from me — she’ll be just great doing things her own way."
