Northern Forest Tourism Network
Collaborating to Create a World Class Destination – Join Us!Sustainable Tourism
By Gloria Bruce, Director of Northeast Kingdom Travel & Tourism Association
Most of us who live in the Northern Forest Region have one significant thing in common: We love our home and we think travelers will too. That is why, in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, we focus on the core values of Geotourism as we create and provide unique vacation experiences. Our partner in this effort, the National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations, defines Geotourism as tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place to include its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well being of its residents. In Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom we create vacation experiences that allow visitors to share that which we value most about our home in such a way as to preserve and protect the region for generations to come.
Throughout the Northern Forest visitors can pursue a variety of adventures that are linked to the distinct geography and history of our region. These adventures include mountain biking, alpine skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, paddling, cross-country skiing, ice fishing, wildlife viewing and more. Visitors can also engage in more unique offerings such as farm tours, primitive skill workshops, and farm-to-table culinary offerings. These types of vacation experiences showcase our cultural heritage, our working agricultural and wooded lands, and create lasting memories for travelers while ensuring the sustainability the region. The overall the goal of these kinds of vacation experiences is to employ tourism to the benefit of a region while simultaneously connecting a visitor with the most beloved aspects of the area.
There are both well established and emerging Geotourism and Sustainable tourism projects and programs that could be considered in a variety of destinations, each with programs that are unique in many ways. Most of these programs do have a least one thing in common – a set of clear, common goals or standards by which a community, county, state, or region must guide their efforts. And example of such a set of standards – the Geotourism Code of Good Practice as outlined by the National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations – cited below. Note that this is just one example, any particular area or effort would need to facilitate a collaborative process to decide what works best for them.
Geotourism Code of Good Practice
Whereas, the Geotourism approach sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place – its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well being of its residents,
Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom
pledges to support these principles of the Geotourism Code of Good Practice:
Integrity of place: We will work to enhance Vermont’s Northeast Kingdoms geographical character in ways distinctive to the place, reflective of its natural and cultural heritage. Our approaches to developing tourism will build on these resources and protect them.
Share our story: We will work to engage visitors and residents in exploring Vermont’s Northeast Kingdoms distinctive characteristics, so that tourists gain a richer experience and residents develop pride in the communities where they live and work.
Enriching tourist experience: We will work to ensure that our visitors are satisfied, enthusiastic, and supportive. We will listen to their interests and concerns, so that they will make return visits and take home travel stories that encourage others to visit Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom as well.
Community involvement and distinctiveness: We will conduct our tourism efforts in ways that support local businesses and civic groups to the greatest extent possible, encouraging partnerships that provide and promote a distinctive, authentic place for visitors and residents alike.
Destination appeal: We will support efforts to sustain Vermont’s Northeast Kingdoms natural habitats, heritage sites, scenic appeal, and local culture—and encourage our visitors to do likewise. We will support efforts to avoid tourist overcrowding. We will seek to minimize sprawl and urge that the design of any new development suit its locale environmentally, culturally, and aesthetically.
Environment: We will work to minimize water usage, pollution, solid waste, invasive species, loss of habitat, and energy consumption.
Human impact: We will support internationally accepted standards of tourism ethics and human rights in relations with our employees, customers, suppliers, and fellow community members. We will minimize unwanted social and cultural disruption from our tourism activities.
Collaboration: We will continue to promote geotourism principles by sharing best practices in our organizations and to collaborate on geotourism educational efforts and policy development.
Commitment: We will post this Code of Good Practice and the actions and policies with which we support it, and to the extent feasible, provide an open venue for others to comment.
Once a clear set of common goals has been identified, a community must strategically plan for the challenges of:
- Increasing community awareness.
- Altering or creating a brand identity for the region that successfully communicates sustainable values and experiences.
- Organizing and/or enhancing the regional tourism product base to include, support or reflect sustainable values.
- Delivering on the core values throughout a visitor experience.
In Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom we have developed and employ multiple education and marketing initiatives to engage both our community and our target markets in these concepts and experiences. And while the effort is beginning to take root it is clear that the community, financial, and administrative commitments to these values must be long-term in order to truly alter and employ sustainable tourism to the benefit our travelers, residents and landscapes.
We welcome questions or comments on the Northeast Kingdom Geotourism program and would be happy to share best practices as established through our program. Contact Gloria if you would like to learn more.
