Fredericton, New Brunswick - A successful tourism best practices mission program is
continuing with support from the Atlantic Canada
Opportunities Agency (ACOA). A total of 24 missions will
take place over the next two years (2005-2007), with the
first one scheduled for late September.Open to tourism operators in all four Atlantic Provinces,
the missions will feature a variety of topics chosen in
consultation with tourism officials and operators from
across the region. Now known as the Competitiveness
Through Best Practices missions, the revamped program will
include an annualized mission schedule, a self-nomination
process and a research component that will be used to
identify emerging tourism activities and experiences. The
Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick (TIANB) will
continue to coordinate and manage the program."These missions introduce our operators to leading tourism
operations and outstanding products, in order to provide
them with new ideas, best practices in customer service and
partnership opportunities," said the Honourable Joseph
McGuire, Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities
Agency (ACOA). "The Government of Canada is pleased to
continue its support for this strategic program, because
tourism holds great potential for wealth and job creation
in Atlantic Canada."The Competitiveness Through Best Practices program is
valued at $610,000, with ACOA providing $430,000 over two
years through its Business Development Program for
individual and group costs relating to the missions.
Participant fees cover the remainder of the program costs."This program has established itself as a leading product
development initiative in Atlantic Canada and is in demand
from private tourism operators," said Real Robichaud,
Executive Director of TIANB. "Competitiveness Through Best
Practices missions are designed to provide Atlantic Canada
tourism operators with an opportunity to interact with
successful operators offering products, destinations and
experiences similar to their own."Nomination forms for the upcoming missions are now
available on-line and are being accepted through the
provincial tourism industry association offices. Topics
for the 2005-2006 missions include RV camping, soft
adventure, themed touring routes, trails and nature
interpretation, heritage destinations, tourism health and
wellness/spas, cruise, tourism cuisine, wine and
sommeliers, music tourism, learning vacations and community
infrastructure and destination development.Since 2000, there have been 41 tourism best practices
missions involving 329 participants. Post-mission surveys
show that 93 per cent of participants found the missions to
be beneficial to their business and 80 per cent said the
missions had a direct impact on their business.
For more information about the Competitiveness Through Best
Practices program, please visit the website at
www.tourismbestpractices.com.
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For broadcast use:A successful tourism best practices mission program is
continuing with support from the Atlantic Canada
Opportunities Agency. A total of 24 missions will take
place over the next two years, with the first one scheduled
for late September.Open to tourism operators in all four Atlantic Provinces,
the missions will feature a variety of topics chosen in
consultation with tourism officials and operators from
across the region. Nomination forms for the upcoming
missions are now available on-line at
www.tourismbestpractices.com and are being accepted through
the provincial tourism industry association offices.
Valérie Poulin
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Joseph McGuire
Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
(613) 941-7241
Danielle Gauthier
ACOA PEI and Tourism
(902) 566-7569
Real Robichaud
Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick
(506) 458-5646
