Northern Forest Tourism Network
Collaborating to Create a World Class Destination – Join Us!Priority Action Plans
Northern Forest Tourism Network: PRIORITY ACTION PLAN May – November 2010
Identified Priority Areas and Point Person:
- Training – Gloria Bruce
- Research – Lisa Chase
- Product Development – Roger Merchant and Mary Jean Packer
- Internal Network Coordination – Chris Thayer and Samantha Kenney Maltais
Next Meeting slated for November 2010. Sub-group that self-identified to help plan this:
Marc Edwards
Katie Curnyn
Mike Wilson
Chris Thayer
Timeframe: May 2010 through our next network meeting in November 2010
TRAINING
Definition: Identified training as workforce and business development training in several forms. Businesses hospitality, tourism, community educations and Northern Forest Tourism Group
Goal: Better deliver tourism products in the Northern Forest.
- Survey and map existing training resources
- Collate examples of existing training as a library to model. CDs, reports, speakers.
- Survey / map what is missing or needed
- Post existing sessions / resources on the Northern Forest Tourism blog.
- Discussion / plan for how to address delivery gap
- Outreach to higher ed to inventory existing college programs in training field, and to engage higher ed in conversation about creating specialized programs that serve entire region (or other ideas that best use the university, college, and community college resource).
RESEARCH
Definition: Identified research as existing reports, assets, mapping of NF tourism players and resources.
Goal: Develop clearer picture of regional tourism resources, initiatives, markets, and opportunities
- Inventory and surveys in four different areas: 1) Tourism initiatives, 2) Training best practices and resources for tourism businesses, 3) Who is our market/audience, and 4) Major players
- Bring the major players in – get a conversation going that includes the businesses.
- Identify future resource needs.
- Create resource library (building on existing NF Tourism web page) – post RFP’s to fill the gaps.
- Overall, focus on the assets/ assessment/ mapping. What are the organizational resources that are in this network right now? What are the services and capacities that are needed outside of the network?
- Investigate of research into other geographic areas and competitors to inform our efforts.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Definition: Identified product development as creating high quality products that create the brand.
Goals: Work towards a brand that emerges from a set of high quality tourism products.
- Inventory existing tourism products in region – itineraries, packages, etc.
- Identify best practice for process of creating and marketing these products, and address questions of scale and implementation in the context of this regional work
- Explore the topic of standards and certification.
- Explore the topic of a regional brand – what would it look like? How will it emerge? Relationship with local and state branding efforts and brands?
- Explore role of this network in product development, with a focus on engaging local businesses.
- Reach out to other state and regional efforts of significance, including both state offices of tourism and the Northern Border Regional Commission, as a way to learn about and engage in decisions about investment in tourism and small business development.
NETWORK COORDINATION
Definition: Identified network coordination as the work of formalizing the structure we need to move forward with all network initiatives.
Goal: To create a robust and lasting structure that enables us to work effectively as a network toward real results.
- Explore and propose roles for network participants that best organize us to communicate effectively and move work forward.
- Choose four (or some number) of people to join Kate in the others who joined March event to plan the next event. Assignment to build sustainability.
- FUN!
- Making the website and what is set up for the tourism network more robust with bookmarks instead of e-mails.
- Find participants in this room – data bank on who to reach in what state for the project to keep the work going. Grow this over time.
- Use the tools that Kate has already put in place to manage the coordination with the group.
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