I could not have said the following thoughts any better. It turns out that Michele Sponagle is a travel blogger from Paris, Ontario having travelled to more than 50 countries – and get this…in her words, “in search of unique experiences”.
In her blog, She suggests five ways to “get real” or experience authentic travel in her blog post this January. Check them out. They reinforce what is being delivered as state of the art industry training at the Gros Morne Institute’s Edge of the Wedge experiential tourism training program. They also help you, as tourism industry professionals, to think about product development, from the “ideal guest perspective”. I invite you to go to the link above and get her take on the following five pieces of advice:
- Go to a local market or grocery store.
- Consider staying at a B&B or private home. (She provides links for home stays and B&B’s). Bill and Mary Kendrick have gone one step further in PEI. They have used their B&B (Briarcliffe Inn, PEI) as a “hub” from which to experience many unique PEI experiences by setting up Experience PEI.
- Venture off the beaten path.
- Socialize with people who live where you vacation. (Note: The more you can do to make these “local people” accessible as unique experiences, the more that you will be helping to attract your ideal guests.”
- Give a little. Get a lot.
By seeing why tourists relish experiences from their perspectives may help each of us to keep tweaking and modifying traditional tourism products to craft experiences that better meet the needs of “experiential travellers”.
