"Utter disappointment": Vancouver tourists increasingly noticing street disorder, open drug use

Añadido: 2026-06-07

[00:00:00]Three months after the provincial government announced a major program to boost BC tourism, the head of Destination Vancouver is sounding the alarm.

[00:00:09]>> Yeah, Vancouver's international reputation is taking a major beating from tourists who have seen the trouble on the downtown Eastside and elsewhere.

[00:00:18]Kristen Robinson reports.

[00:00:20]>> [music] >> On a glorious day, tourists [music] at Canada Place are loving Vancouver.

[00:00:30]>> It's nice.

[00:00:30]>> Clean.

[00:00:31]>> Clean.

[00:00:31]>> Feel safe. You don't see a lot of >> [music] >> homeless.

[00:00:37]>> It's beautiful. It's People are friendly.

[00:00:39]>> This is only a snapshot of the visitor experience.

[00:00:44]East of the downtown core >> What do you think?

[00:00:47]>> Well, a bit a little bit dirty.

[00:00:49]>> BC's Look West strategy seeks to double tourism revenue to 48 billion by 2036.

[00:00:56]>> We have the product, the expertise, and the capacity to grow.

[00:01:00]>> But Destination Vancouver says that goal is harder to achieve when public and business confidence in safety continues to decline. Its CEO shared some recent tourist comments.

[00:01:12]>> Street upon street of homeless people who were clearly under the influence.

[00:01:15]Really glad to leave this place and will not be going back. It is living off past reputation. Save your money.

[00:01:23]>> We saw a lot of homeless people.

[00:01:26]And at home we don't have so much.

[00:01:30]>> These perceptions matter.

[00:01:33]Tourism is built on reputation.

[00:01:36]>> BC's tourism minister unavailable for an interview Tuesday. Destination Vancouver says it supports compassionate, evidence-based solutions to the overdose crisis.

[00:01:46]>> For us, this is not a debate about whether or not people need help. They do.

[00:01:51]>> Royce Schwin adding his 200 volunteers are increasingly getting asked about what tourists are seeing. and for the first time in almost 30 years the VPD helped train them on how to answer questions about safety.

[00:02:04]>> That's not right.

[00:02:05]>> Kristen Robinson, Global News.