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Get staff on the ground quickly to act on the proposed Tourism Development Strategy set forth for Enterprise Grand Falls Region, consultants advised the region at a public meeting.

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Norman Thériault, Francois Picard, Jean-guy Vienneau, Josée Rioux-Walker

Normand Thériault and Jean-Guy Vienneau presented a final action plan for the Grand Falls region tourist industry, after public consultations were collected during three meetings in Plaster Rock, Grand Falls and St. Leonard.

This plan covers the territory from Ste-Anne-de-Madawaska to Perth- Andover.

“You will need to attack this plan, it does not offer all the solutions but it set a path of what should be done for the tourism industry of the region. Human Resources will have to be hired to take this to the other level,” Vienneau suggested.

He said the region will have to use innovative ways to get the funding which already exist through different government programs.

“Most of the infrastructures exist, some need improvement but mostly they have to meet the tourist needs. The trend is that most visitors want to participate in unique, authentic and dynamic experiences which respect nature and the environment,” Thériault explained. He said that the region has all the tools to offer these experiences to tourists. They proposed to use the slogan:

“Experience the most picturesque rivers in Eastern Canada” to offer tourists a multicultural experience focused on its natural attractions, its wide open spaces, eco-tourism and green tourism associated with the falls and the two rivers.

“We are not competing with one town against the other we have to look at it like we are in a global competition, for tourists use the Internet more and more to seek vacation locations,” Francois Picard, general manager of Enterprise Grand Falls Region said to those present after the presentation.

A Regional Festival was also part of the suggested tourism strategies.

“Different cultures which are represented in the region could be a great aspect to exploit for a festival which regroups all those cultures, art, meal and traditions,” Vienneau said. A Cultural circuit could be developed to access all secondary roads which would highlight Native, Acadian, English, German, Scottish, Danish, Dutch and Irish cultures. Another proposal is to make a joint package for golfers to access the three courses available in the region.

Training for tourism information workers should be addressed too.

“We should look at having over 55 year old workers who know the region and are available to work year round to give out tourist information. We don’t want to take away summer jobs for students but they need to better trained to give a better service to tourists. “ The goal is to increase tourism numbers by 3 per cent a year for the next three years.

“Intercepting tourists should be the main objective for all of the population,” Vienneau said.

The last Tourism Strategy for the region was developed back in the 1970s, when the Falls and Gorge Malabeam Information Centre was built.

En français : Une nouvelle stratégie en matière de marketing touristique suggère que la région de Grand-Sault porte son attention sur ses cours d’eau pittoresques.