One of the things that we have noted in the last couple of years in Canada is that the champions for leading and investing into experiential tourism across much of Canada, are the economic development officers located in rural settings.
Whether in Annapolis Digby, Nova Scotia, Manitoulin Island on Lake Huron, or in Dauphin, Manitoba, it’s the economic development officers who are helping their community businesses, residents and operators to integrate experiential tourism into their tourism planning and business development opportunities. As quoted in the recent article from NovaNewsNow about an experiential tourism workshop in November 2008, Joy O’Neill, an economic development officer in Annapolis Digby said “We are delighted that so many operators have joined us for this workshop. We need them to make this succeed.”
If you are looking to have a workshop in your local area, it may be that you need to partner with your economic development officer to be able to leverage the funding, and act as a champion to bring a new awareness to your community about the potential for experiential tourism. Read the above article to learn about some of the benefits that Annapolis Digby saw, as well as what local tourism operators were saying.
