Ingonish STEP
YOU’RE INVITED!
STEP (Strategic Tourism Expansion Program) – a community-led regional tourism development process designed to grow our tourism economy.
Introduction:
This 90-minute workshop is multi-faceted, highly interactive and demands significant community input for a constructive planning process. It focuses on describing Ingonish and Area’s current tourism position, generating the framework for a destination vision. Group discussion will help identify tourism priorities, and ideas for workable tactics to fuel the strategy.
Location for all sessions: North Ingonish Fire Hall
1. Food and Beverage Session: Monday, June 26: 9:30 – 11:00 am
2. Indigenous Heritage Session: Monday, June 26: 2:30 – 4:00 pm
3. Outdoor Recreation Session: Monday, June 26: 6:30 – 8:00 pm
4. Experience Provider Session: Tuesday, June 27: 9:30 – 11:00 am
5. Heritage, Arts and Culture Session: Tuesday, June 27: 2:30 – 4:00 pm
6. At Large/Interested Residents Session: Tuesday, June 27: 6:30 – 8:00 pm
Please RSVP to: Colleen.Whelan-Smith@victoriacounty.ca
Who should attend?
Find the session that you are most connected to and register to help plot a course for the future.
These sessions seek input from specific segments of tourism and the community in order to help form the region’s tourism destination development strategy.
Ingonish and Area STEP
Visioning and Idea Generation Session Overview
June 26, 2023 – 9:30 – 11:00 am
North Ingonish Fire Hall
These 90-minute workshops are multi-faceted, highly interactive and demand significant community input for a constructive planning process. They focus on describing Ingonish and Area’s current tourism position, generating the framework for a destination vision. Group discussion will help identify tourism priorities, and ideas for workable tactics to fuel the strategy.
Who Should Attend:
Inclusive perspectives are essential for responsible tourism development; therefore, sessions are open to anyone interested in contributing to how the region develops from a tourism perspective. Residents, community volunteers, elected officials, municipal staff, business owners and tourism operators are welcome.
Elements of Sessions:
Current Situation:
Understanding where the tourism journey begins is essential to plot a course for the future. Therefore, at the outset of this session, the consultant walks participants through the tourism landscape and market profile.
Drafting Elements of a Vision
A tourism vision is essential for engaging stakeholders in a common direction. Drafting the elements for a tourism-specific vision leads to a focus on how tourism should be planned, developed, managed, and marketed over time.
Based on the critical components in the Tourism Asset Inventory, the group will be asked the core question: “Where do you want to be in 5 years?” Potential themes and narrative for the destination will also be discussed.
Idea Generation – Identifying Priorities and Actions
Strategic tourism planning demands choices. Participants will identify priorities for the next 3 to 5 years in a small group setting. The larger group then ranks these priorities to isolate the top five. The information from the session is incorporated into the thinking that will help form the regions tourism destination development strategy.