Hopefully many of you have already heard about the Media Tour Program have been able to make use of it.  For those of you who know about and have used it, great; for those of you scratching your heads, let's talk about this gem of an opportunity.

The Media Tour Program has been around for many, many years.  Originally starting with media interested in publicizing Manitoba's fishing and hunting experiences, since 2002 the program has grown under the direction of Cathy Senecal.  These days, Cathy and her team assist travel media interested in telling stories about all tourism products available in Manitoba.  Managed by a crack team in Media Relations, the program's focus is to assist industry members in hosting travel media who want to share Manitoba travel stories.  Ultimately, the goal is to impact visitation to a specific attraction or destination by securing earned media of positive travel experiences.

The Team

Cathy Senecal, Manger Global Media Relations heads the department and keeps a finger on the pulse of media in our primary markets as well as what is being done nationally and in other jurisdictions that we may be able to tap into.

Julia Adams, Specialist, Media Relations, secures writers and finds ideal partners to co-host them and works out the itinerary they will follow while in the province.

Jillian Recksiedler, Communications Specialist Media Relations, manages the media site and the media e-newsletter, Write Angles.  Jillian is always looking to hear from our industry members about any new products or programs on offer so she can pitch your stories via Write Angles to a 900 member media database.

How the Media Tour Program Can Help You

If media has contacted you about visiting your operation the Media Tour Program can help you by:

• giving you advice on how to deal with media,
• giving logistical advice or assistance in hosting media,
• or potentially providing financial assistance to host media.

The Media Tour Program is continually planning customized itineraries for media visits to Manitoba.  These itineraries focus around the needs of the media and the story they want to tell.  If you get a call from the program, seize the opportunity to co-partner with Travel Manitoba as editorial is one of the most effective ways to get the word out and let your business be introduced to people the world over.

The media team needs your help to keep their inventory of products and programs up to date when making arrangements with writers and videographers, so be sure to keep them in the loop on your activities.

When an organization such as yours sees its name in an article in En Route or the San Francisco Chronicle it creates excitement.  It is this excitement that has made Travel Manitoba's media relations strategy the success that it is today.  Each year the media tour program averages more than 100 media trips, with the focus on media in Travel Manitoba's primary markets of Canada, the US, Germany and the UK.  Although each media opportunity is evaluated on a case-by-case basis and their time in Manitoba is dictated by the story they want to tell, don't let this deter you from contacting the team about new programs and products that you're offering or for assistance.

You may have spoken with her at some point over the last six years about market research or statistics, and if not then you may in the future.  Yan Cong is the resident Research Analyst at Travel Manitoba and has a unique portfolio that keeps her constantly busy.

Whether it's analyzing and evaluating economic and tourism issues by doing research projects and studies on tourism, or monitoring and reporting on tourism and market trends, Yan finds her work to be stimulating and rewarding.  Yan also provides advice and input to the industry by serving on various research committees and working groups, engages stakeholders to participate in Travel Manitoba research studies and engages in research partnerships with other tourism organizations.

Here's a bit more information about Yan:

Favourite Spot in Manitoba:  She loves the lakes and beaches that the province has to offer but what she really loves is our desert.  "Spirit Sands is definitely my favourite place to go.  When I set foot in the Spirit Sands desert, I'm always fascinated by the rolling sand hills in the middle of the Canadian Prairies".

Yan's Manitoba Time: A few years ago when her parents were visiting she got the chance to take them fishing.  "Seeing my father's face light up when he catches a Master Angler size fish.  That moment definitely makes my Manitoba Time."  This year her father-in-law caught two Master Anglers and is hooked on fishing in Manitoba.  "I'm so proud of the rich fishing resources that Manitoba has to offer.  Most people don't realize how rewarding it is to reel in a big fish until they actually experience it.  The big fish experience and the Master Angler Awards program make fishing in Manitoba truly amazing."

Most Loved Part of the Job: "I find providing market research-related advice and information to the industry to be very rewarding".  Working with a great team also goes to helping make the job so enjoyable.

One Place in Manitoba that Yan Would Like to Visit: Churchill in the fall to experience the polar bears.

• In January 2012, Travel Manitoba will be launching our new Tourism Ambassador's program.  This program will highlight industry members who excel in their areas and want to share their passion and exuberance with others.  Complete with video's!
• Look for Visitor Experiences on Facebook!  This page will replace the Discussion Exchange but the same principles apply.  We encourage you to share your thoughts, comments and questions about tourism development, experiences and issues that you may be facing in tourism today.
• The Manitoba Tourism Awards Call for Nominations will be going out in early January.  This year we are launching a new Event of the Year category, stay tuned for more details.
• You've told us you'd like more timely information, and that's what you'll find as we move information that would've typically appeared in the Voyageur online to Travel Manitoba's tourism industry website.

There are a lot of words floating around out there that make the waters murky when it comes to sustainable tourism.  Green, eco, responsible, sustainable - although they do share a common theme, the definition of sustainable tourism that most Canadian tourism businesses use, too often gets overlooked.  The Canadian Tourism Commission and Parks Canada define sustainable tourism as:

"Sustainable tourism actively fosters appreciation and stewardship of the natural, cultural and historic resources and special places by local residents, the tourism industry, governments and visitors.  It is tourism which is viable over the long term because it results in a net benefit for the social, economic and natural and cultural environments of the area in which it takes place."

People often get caught up on the environmental side of sustainability and, while really important, socio-cultural and economic factors often don't get considered enough.  With that in mind this article is going to focus primarily on those two less addressed factors.

Socio-Cultural & Economic Sustainability

A two-parter, socio-cultural sustainability focuses on the local community.  This is primarily achieved through respecting the things that make a community a community: its history, way of life and people.  This includes the cultural values, traditions, behaviours and relationships of those currently in the community and surrounding area, as well as those of previous generations.  A great example of socio-cultural sustainability can be seen with experiences that Dauphin created like Baba's Bread & Borscht,  Bridging Cultures at Fort Dauphin and Baked Elsewhere!.  These experiences get visitors meeting members of the community and learning about the local history and peoples.  In addition to building the capacity of tourism offerings in Dauphin, Carissa Caruk-Ganczar of Tourism Dauphin said, "The development of these new experiences has united community organizations and partners that traditionally might not have worked together."

Although economic sustainability is pretty self-explanatory, it's no less important.  Without this consideration it would be extremely difficult to sustain tourism, or any other type of business for that matter, in a community.  Again, Dauphin is a great example.  Their experiences create new wealth and revenue for community partners as the money stays in the community and they are the ones that see the benefits.

While not exhaustive there are a few principles that are key to pursuing the socio-cultural aspects of sustainability:

• Community Participation - Community buy-in is key to moving forward with tourism in an area.  Engaging residents in the process not only gives people a voice, but helps cultivate a more collaborative environment that will in turn help expand tourism in the community.
• Hiring Locals - Keeping the workforce local gives a sense of pride in what it is that they are doing and ensures the experiences offered to visitors are authentic.  It also keeps money in the community which is spent at local businesses, contributing to the local economy.
• Front Stage/Back Stage - Be cognizant of the things that you do and don't share with visitors.  Everyone involved in tourism has to be comfortable with that they share, and ultimately what they're sharing with the visitor.

How do you measure socio-cultural sustainability?  It has to be specific to your community, but some possible indicators to consider would include:

• Social impact on an area: the number of tourists compared to locals (look at the high season over time)
• The contribution of tourism to the local economy: proportion of total economic activity that is attributable solely to tourism
• Tourism workforce: the percentage of workers in the tourism industry compared to the workforce as a whole
• Evidence of pride in community: these can be difficult to quantify, but community surveys to gauge sense of satisfaction with things like cleanliness, sense of welcoming can work well

Environmental Sustainability

Many organizations have incorporated environmentally friendly practices into their operations.  This is in line with research on consumer attitudes toward environmentally-friendly travel.  On average 59% of Canadian and UK travellers considered environmentally-friendly travel to be very important.  This increases to 92% in travellers from France and China.

Research also shows that more than half of respondents in the UK were interested in learning more about the local environment and social issues in their destination, that local people benefit from tourism in their area and that trying local cuisine and experiencing local culture is important to them. 

In this respect the following are great lenses to look through when applying sustainable practices to your operations and the experiences you offer visitors.  These come to us from the Local Travel Movement blog.

If you are mindful of the local people, you put yourself in the locals' shoes and discover what they really think.

If you are mindful of the local environment, you put yourself in the heart of it, feel its beauty and power, and do what you can to preserve it for the future.

If you are mindful of the local culture, you put yourself in the local mindset and share in activities and experiences as locals do.

If you are mindful of the local economy, you put your money into local business and ensure that your tourism benefits the right people.

For more resources on sustainable tourism check out the TI Web for helpful articles and tools like the Sustainable Tourism Self Assessment Tool, Green Your Business Toolkit, Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria and Action Plan Template.