Arsenault is the managing partner and “the experience gal” at Tourism Caf茅, a tourism training company. She specializes in many areas, including experiential tourism, community experiential tourism and market development.
“Tourists nowadays want to venture along the beaten path [and] go deeper into communities and culture.”
Jasper can benefit from creating visitor opportunities “that differentiate us as a tourist destination,” said Mary Darling, executive director of business development at Tourism Jasper. Darling encourages businesses and community members to explore experiential tourism.
Experiential tourism allows travellers to form a personal connection to the places they visit. Establishing a connection between a visitor and a place can lead to more revenue and a higher rate of visitor return, said Arsenault, citing research conducted by the Canadian Tourism Commission.
“While our numbers of travellers have decreased on the world stage relative to other emerging destinations … we in fact are increasing our yield per traveller, which is exactly what experiential travel is designed to do.”
Experiential tourism is not a trend, she explained, it’s “a fundamental shift in the market place where there’s a new opportunity.”
“There’s a jewel [in Jasper] that as a traveller from away, I see the difference between some of the other communities that I’ve been to,” said Celes Davar, president and chief marketing officer of Earth Rhythms, an experiential tourism company in Manitoba.
Davar referenced the experience he had canoeing earlier in the week and how the guide made it memorable.
“He helped me to connect to your place and I think that is part of what we’re looking at as we start to look at how experiences connect travellers to real people and real places to their own stories.”
Davar turned the floor over to attendees, who represented Parks Canada and the business and community sectors, and asked what Jasper already has that would position it for success with experiential tourism.
A strong community, rich history and beautiful landscape were a few repeat answers. Many also agreed that customers should be able to find and book these tourism experiences easily.
Local partnerships are important in experiential tourism, Davar stressed. “National parks are great opportunities for tourism collaboration between businesses, Parks Canada and local communities. It’s a win-win-win.”
Engaging in partnerships is a “me to we” shift, added Arsenault. “People in the community and province aren’t competitors … we need to work together to differentiate ourselves against the rest of the world.”
Having “local champions” in the community is beneficial to establishing experiential tourism opportunities, said Davar. Local champions engage others, connect people to opportunity and “pull the rest of us along the way.”
Creating visitor experiences is up to the community and lies in facilitating experiences instead of presenting them, said Davar.
“This is a magnificent place and it has a spirit—how do you want to share it with the world?”
