The history of the organization goes back to 1930 when it was known as the Canadian Tourist Association. One of the country’s oldest member-based organizations, it was rebranded in 1977 as the Travel Industry Association of Canada.

Encouraging travel to and within Canada, the newly-named TIAC was committed to increasing the economic and social benefits of travel and tourism for all Canadians, promoting the growth and development of travel services within the country, and increasing awareness at all levels of government about the economic and social benefits of travel and tourism to the well-being of Canada.

About 20 years later, the marketing portion was carved off, and a pledge was made to the Prime Minister of Canada at the time that TIAC would do everything possible to ensure the Canadian Tourism Commission (now Destination Canada) became a reality by 1995.

Today, TIAC and Destination Canada work hand-in-hand, ensuring Canada is marketed as a destination of choice.

Continuing to grow, TIAC has a base of over 600 members and thousands of affiliate members across Canada. This encompasses everything from large national and multinational companies to medium and small enterprises, all contributing to the vitality of our travel and tourism sector.

Under the experienced leadership of President and Chief Executive Officer Beth Potter, TIAC continues to strive for the success and prosperity of Canada’s tourism sector, and so, all Canadians. An important economic contributor, tourism is Canada’s second-largest contributor to gross domestic product (GDP) at $40 billion a year, topped only by oil and gas. Before COVID, the nation’s tourism industry was responsible for 1.8 million jobs and worth $105 billion in total economic activity.

Since the start of the pandemic, the travel and tourism sector has taken a beating like no other. All related industries, from airlines to hotels, and entertainment venues to restaurants, experienced months of on-again / off-again closures, safety protocols such as occupancy limitations and social distancing, border closures, and many other problematic issues.

Today, over three years since the first reported cases of COVID-19, the Tourism Industry Association of Canada continues working on behalf of its members in travel and tourism.

In 2021, some of TIAC’s successes included the passing of Bill C-2 in late December. This new support—the result of months of advocacy—helped to ensure that the country’s tourism industry, the ‘Hardest-Hit Sector,’ would continue to receive wage and rent relief, saving thousands of jobs from disappearing.

That year also saw other major advocacy initiatives, as TIAC worked with industry partners to secure the Tourism Relief Fund—$500 million in support to the sector over two years.

“The majority of the funding, $485 million, will be delivered by Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) directly to tourism businesses and organizations to help aid in the creation of new tourism experiences, or enhance existing ones,” said TIAC in a media release. “Of this $485 million, a minimum of 10 percent will be invested in Indigenous tourism projects.”

That November, TIAC released its Briefing for National Policy Forum: Priorities for Tackling Labour Challenges in Tourism. Addressing the unprecedented shortfall of workers and major structural changes, the document makes policy recommendations to address issues including supply, skills, mobility, and education and training reform.

Last year saw Potter and her team continue their efforts to help rebuild Canada’s travel and tourism industry. This included working with Tourism HR Canada and government partners to start addressing tourism labour challenges and advocating that COVID testing requirements be updated to remove pre-travel testing requirements.

The team also provided a thorough pre-budget submission to the federal government “with industry input and support, positioning key advocacy recommendations into three priority areas: Financial Supports, Branding and Barriers, and the Labour Shortage,” and many other initiatives helping Canadian travel and tourism to rebuild.

Before last fall’s federal budget, TIAC released Tourism: A High Potential for Economic Growth. Among its dozen recommendations were allocating millions toward domestic recruitment campaigns and an Indigenous Workforce Strategy; financial measures supporting “the creation, maintenance and refurbishment of tourism assets, including a new tax credit for retrofits and upgrades”; the introduction of a National Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events Fund, and others.

“The Government of Canada certainly has been supportive over the last few years, in particular our Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance, Randy Boissonnault,” says Potter. “Our recommendations in the pre-budget submission this year support the recommendations we put in around a call for a new federal tourism growth strategy. Our industry was just devastated by the impacts of the pandemic, and we’re looking at how we can reinforce, encourage, and grow the workforce in our industry,” she says.

“Also, we want to make sure there’s an ongoing investment in the infrastructure of our industry so that our assets are up to date and that they’re telling the best story that Canada can. So far, our recommendation seems to be heard. But the budget comes out in the spring, so we have to wait and see. We’ve got a few more months before we understand how well the government heard us.”

As Canada’s travel and tourism industry emerges from under the dark cloud of COVID, TIAC/AITC members are rethinking how they operate. Many businesses were closed completely during the pandemic because of various restrictions. Although challenging, this allowed businesses to pause and ask questions about how things were changing, including a shift in consumer needs and desires.

“It had started before the pandemic, but this allowed us to get into it in a much deeper way, focusing on how businesses are operating sustainably and asking how they are developing their own capacity,” says Potter.

“It is more than just eliminating single-use plastic,” says Potter. “It’s really about the entire ecosystem. So this is a big, complex thing to tackle. There are so many different kinds of businesses in our industry, but the positive reaction we’ve had from the industry to the training we’ve made available has been amazing,” she shares.

“We’re also doing a lot of training to make sure businesses can line up what they’re doing with their sustainable development goals. Much of the time it looks big and scary and they don’t know where to start, so we’re trying to make that as attainable as possible for them.”

One of TIAC’s many successes over the years was securing $95.5 million in annual permanent base funding for Destination Canada. Since travel and tourism were seriously impacted by the pandemic and slow to recover, TIAC will push the Government of Canada to hold this funding level at $95.5 million a year, so that Destination Canada’s access to the tools and marketing it needs can continue.

“Destination Canada’s budget is about the same size as California’s,” comments Potter, “so we want to make sure Destination Canada is armed with the budget to go out and promote Canada as a destination, especially in the business event sector. Business events, conferences, and trade shows make up 40 percent of our overall industry. To put that in perspective, if we lost our business events it would be like taking Ontario’s tourism industry out of Canada.”

Naturally, the Tourism Industry Association of Canada promotes several major industry events. These include the TIAC Tourism Congress, taking place in Ottawa on November 21 and 22, and Rendez-vous Canada (RVC). Co-produced with Destination Canada, invitation-only Rendez-vous Canada, to be held at the Québec City Convention Centre, runs from May 30 to June 2.

“That event is really to drive business between international buyers that want to sell Canada destinations within their own country,” says Potter. “As you can imagine, there are a lot of meetings. Last year, we had over 50,000 meetings between all those folks in the three days. They’re done in 15-minute increments. The whole idea is to give small businesses, in Canada especially, an opportunity to meet with international buyers to promote their product or experience at the international level.”

The event saw about 500 international buyers and another 600 to 700 Canadian tourism businesses engage in matchmaking appointments between buyers and sellers.

Celebrating tourism across the country with a week dedicated to the industry, this year’s theme is Canada: Powered by Tourism (April 24-30), which highlights how tourism helps animate communities and provides jobs and economic growth at the community level.

TIAC is also active with the Future Borders Coalition, and is on the organization’s board of directors, serving as Vice-Chair. Predating the pandemic, the bi-national Coalition is dedicated to bettering the Canada / United States border for travel and trade and comprises organizations from Canada and the U.S. involved in all modes of transportation, tourism, and academia.

“It looks at all the policies, the technology, the processes, the legislation that is needed on both sides of the border to facilitate the movement of goods and people,” says Potter. “And it’s an organization that brings governments together, from both the U.S. and Canada, to have very focused conversations on transportation policy, immigration policy, and other border-related policies.”

Now that border restrictions have been lifted, Canada is again welcoming tourists from its biggest international market—the United States—and expects to see cross-border travel accelerate this year. The forecast sees it hitting 80 to 85 percent of 2019 levels in 2023, with full recovery by 2024.

And even with travel restrictions in China and the impact of the recession in Europe, TIAC says overseas travel to Canada will recover modestly this year to somewhere between 60 and 65 percent of 2019 volumes, rising to 90 percent in 2025 with full recovery by 2026.

“When we think about the future of tourism in Canada, our organization is here to make sure that businesses within the tourism sector have the ability to provide those outstanding experiences that Canada is known for, those great interactions with Canadians that visitors talk about with a glint in their eye and a smile on their face. That’s what we want to make happen.”

Sidebar:
Beth Potter On Destination Development:
“We have a community of all sizes of destinations from across the country that we’re working with; from major city centres like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montréal, down to smaller places like Sherbrooke or Saskatoon, and even smaller than that, like Barrie, Ontario,” says TIAC President and Chief Executive Officer Beth Potter.

“We’re working with those organizations to support them in the work that they do and their municipal governments and local businesses. Supporting local and buying local are huge themes, and also wanting to make sure that those main streets are vibrant and animated. So that means a multi-step approach,” she explains.

“If you want main streets to be revitalized, you have to look at everything from who the shops and the retailers and the businesses are on Main Street, to who’s living on Main Street. You won’t have a vibrant, thriving Main Street if it relies only on visitors to your destination; you have to take into account your residents as well. The people who live and work there have to be an active part of what that revitalized downtown looks like.”

The post Coming Back Strong<p class="company">The Tourism Industry Association of Canada</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Atlantic Tours & Travel President Richard Arnold’s ‘travel bug’ is highly contagious. If you listen to him speak for more than two minutes about Atlantic Canada which he calls “one of the world’s most beautiful areas,” you’ll likely catch it. And before you know it, you’ll be joining one of his company’s guaranteed-departure guided coach tours to see for yourself if his enthusiasm about the breathtaking scenery and warm hospitality of Canada’s four Atlantic provinces is warranted.

Prefer to drive your own vehicle, but don’t know where to go or what to see? Atlantic Tours & Travel has that covered too, through customized, self-guided tours that draw on the company’s considerable knowledge and expertise. Want to spend a day golfing or sailing? That can be built into your schedule.

Doing just what you want
Want a tour tailor-made for a specific group interest? Customized, guided coach tours are also offered because Atlantic Tours & Travel’s number one concern is satisfying customers. As Arnold says, “Without customers, there’s no business.” Doing what people want and then going one step further to create the ultimate travel experience is number one on the company’s agenda.

Prefer to travel in the shoulder seasons? No problem, regularly scheduled tours run from early May through the end of October, with shopping trips to Bangor and New York in November.

Organizing a national convention at the Halifax Convention Centre? Arnold can customize day or half-day tours to fit with the convention’s schedule, meet attendees at the airport and offer pre- or post-conference travel experiences.

And what about a culinary tour? That’s something Arnold says Atlantic Tours & Travel was doing long before it became “a thing,” and is built into every tour in a region renowned for seafood—lobster, scallops, and crab, along with pure maple syrup, wild blueberries, and fiddlehead greens.

Arnold, who was born in Nova Scotia’s fertile Annapolis Valley, which has a recorded history going back to the 1600s and the first French Acadian settlement, joined Atlantic Tours & Travel in the 1980s as a tour guide, something he loves doing to this day.

Thirteen years ago, however, he had the opportunity to become co-owner with business partner, Gary Biddle, and president of the company, which came with certain responsibilities, mainly more time in the office growing the company, and less on the road.

But the lure of introducing tourists from western Canada and the U.S., from Europe and as far away as Australia to Atlantic Canada can’t be denied. From time to time, he substitutes his business card that indicates he’s the company president for one that simply indicates ‘Director of Fun,’ and hits the road wearing a kilt sewn from the distinctive tartan of one of the four Atlantic Provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland & Labrador.

“I don’t even tell the people on the tour that I’m the president,” he says, “because I want to be judged as being a great tour director. I want people to relax and have fun and be worry-free.”

With an extensive travel history and background, he says that the most beautiful place he has traveled to is right here in Atlantic Canada, with each province offering truly spectacular locations, whether it be the breathtaking scenic views of the Cabot Trail or the quaint charm of Peggy’s Cove in Nova Scotia; New Brunswick’s Hopewell Cape Rocks on the Bay of Fundy, carved by glaciers millions of years ago and where visitors can walk on the ocean floor at low tide; Prince Edward Island’s patchwork quilt of green fields and red soil; or Newfoundland & Labrador’s majestic icebergs, plentiful moose and the jelly-bean-coloured painted wooden houses of St. John’s.

What do ‘folks from away’ do?
The short answer is ‘plenty’ but Arnold will tell it his way. When he took over as president in 2011, Atlantic Tours & Travel’s standard tour offering was a seven-day journey around the three Maritime Provinces—Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island—but that was too little time to see everything.

He explains how he instead created a 13-day tour around the three Maritime Provinces but broke it up into two segments, which allowed people to do half or all, with each segment beginning and ending in Halifax.

Then he added an additional 13-day tour to Newfoundland & Labrador, which can be added to the 13-day tour when it arrives in Sydney, Cape Breton to make a grand 23-day tour when you remove the overlapping days or accessed as a stand-alone tour originating in Halifax. Even that tour can be broken into two segments with options to join or leave mid-way.

The first half of the 13-day tour is entitled “Circle the Bay of Fundy”. From Halifax, the tour heads north to the UNESCO World Heritage Site at the Joggins Fossil Cliffs before crossing the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border to visit Shediac and enjoy a lobster experience with Shediac Bay Cruises.

It continues to the Hopewell Cape’s Flower Pot Rocks and Fundy National Park; and on to Saint John for two nights, with a day trip to St. Andrew’s-by-the-Sea. Then the tour crosses the Bay of Fundy, arriving in Digby, home of succulent Digby scallops, and on through the fruit orchards and wineries of the Annapolis Valley with a stop at the Grand Pré National Historic Site and UNESCO World Heritage Site which commemorates the deportation of the Acadians in 1755 before it returns to Halifax.

The second half
The second half of the tour, “The Enchanting Islands” departing from Halifax, includes visits to Peggy’s Cove and Lunenburg, another UNESCO World Heritage site on Nova Scotia’s South Shore, before it heads to New Brunswick and crosses the 12.9 km (8 miles) Confederation Bridge linking the mainland to Prince Edward Island.

Highlights of the two-night stay include the PEI National Park and Cavendish, home of Anne of Green Gables, and a New Glasgow Lobster Supper. There’s also a theatrical performance at the Charlottetown Festival.

Then it’s back to Nova Scotia via the Wood Island ferry and on to Cape Breton with two nights in Baddeck, the summer home of Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone. There’s a full day touring the scenic Cabot Trail and another reliving history at the fully restored Fortress of Louisbourg.

When the tour reaches Sydney, the group has the option of returning to Halifax or joining the 12-day Newfoundland & Labrador tour, which begins aboard an overnight ferry, and travelling the scenic great Northern Peninsula before arriving in Port Aux Basques. Highlights include another ferry ride to the big land of Labrador, the mainland part of the province, and a visit to an early Basque whaling station and UNESCO World Heritage site at Red Bay.

Back on the island of Newfoundland, there are visits to the UNESCO Heritage Site of L’Anse aux Meadows where Vikings established a settlement more than 1,000 years ago, and optional boat tours to see whales and thousands of seabirds, including puffins—and icebergs, depending on the season overnighting in the community of St. Anthony. Later you will visit Gros Morne National Park and UNESCO World Heritage site where you will get an opportunity to pick up and hold in your hand a piece of the earth’s mantle and enjoy a two-night stay in Cow Head with its stunning sunsets.

There’s also a stop at the Gander Aviation Museum to learn how the small town of Gander hosted the world on September 11, 2001, when all North American airlines, in- and out-bound, were grounded. The adventure concludes with a visit of Newfoundland & Labrador’s capital St. John’s and the Cape Spear Lighthouse, the most easterly point of Canada, from where Marconi transmitted the first trans-Atlantic message.

Before flying home from St. John’s, tour groups have the option of visiting the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, just off the coast. The eight-island archipelago has been a self-governing French territory since 1814 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris between France and Great Britain. According to Arnold, “This tour provides a chance to visit France without leaving North America. What we’ve done is take structured touring and customized it, so people can do it in bits and pieces or do the whole thing, depending on interests and time.”

Made for everyone
He goes on to note that these tours, with guaranteed departures, are by no means Atlantic Tours & Travel’s only offerings and that, if there’s enough interest, he can arrange tours to other locations, including the Magdalen Islands, which are part of Quebec, but accessible by ferry from Souris, PEI; or to the Gaspé Peninsula, via New Brunswick.

There are also some specialized tours, such as the tour to Cape Breton’s music festival, Celtic Colours, every October.

Additionally, Arnold works behind the scenes to provide tour programs and arrangements to U.S. tour companies who bring their clients in their own coaches from various departure points in the U.S., and who may cross into Canada at any of several border crossings—on a ferry between Bar Harbour, ME and Yarmouth, NS or at one of the land border crossings.

Taking Canadians to the world
While Atlantic Canada accounts for 85 percent of Atlantic Tours & Travel business, making it a considerable contribution to the tourist industry as a whole (hotels, restaurants, attractions) and so to the economy of the four provinces, the company also offers international tours, giving Canadians the same worry-free experience international tourists enjoy here.

Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, there were no such tours in 2020 or 2021, but Arnold more than made up for that in 2022. “I hosted six trips last year, starting in Bordeaux on a river cruise in April, Bermuda in May, and in August with a Rhine River cruise with AMA Waterways. Then I did the Greek Isles and Italy with Norwegian cruise lines. In October there was the lower Danube out of Romania, and I ended the year with Christmas in the Caribbean with Norwegian Cruise Lines.”

In April this year, he’ll be hosting 16 days in Ireland and Scotland on a traditional motor coach tour, flying into Dublin and out of London, and later in the year will be hosting the 10-day Tennessee Musical Treasures tour, flying out of Halifax, with stops in Nashville, Memphis, and the Smokey Mountains.

Free of worry
Any final words? “I think what I’d like to emphasize is ‘worry-free travel,’” says Arnold. “We look after all the details, whether for people arriving in Atlantic Canada or Atlantic Canadians traveling abroad. I’m thinking of the trip to France last spring. When we left Halifax we knew we had missed our connection in Toronto and so needed a hotel there, and when we arrived the next day in Bordeaux, the ship had left without us and we had to play catch-up,” he shares.

“But that was something I had the experience and background to deal with. And when we caught up with the ship and got onboard, the group, which had become friends, looked so relieved and thanked me for making this happen.” And that’s what a worry-free travel experience is all about: every detail taken care of, and every unforeseen “crisis” efficiently resolved.

The post Bringing the World to Atlantic Canada<p class="company">Atlantic Tours & Travel</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

The business was founded by the Simensen family, led by Unni Simensen, in 1981. In 1997, she passed the business to her son Geir who went on to sell the company to current owners Raj and Anju Gupta in 2017.

The Guptas were friendly with the Simensen family before the sale and used the opportunity to purchase the business when it was available for sale. Nearly six years after the purchase, Head of Marketing and Human Relations Anju Gupta reports that the experience has been very positive, as the business has seen considerable growth since the purchase with even more in store for its future.

One of the biggest areas of focus for the company is in its approach to customer service. From the time clients make an initial inquiry about an upcoming event, a Scanway sales engagement manager will connect with them about the logistics of what is needed and will then offer different menus in consultation with Operations Partner and Executive Chef Raj Gupta.

Scanway has a diverse array of food and wine menus and is more than happy to customize its offerings according to the desires or needs of the client, including taking into account any food allergies. This ensures that clients are not only happy with the service, but that they also receive the best dining experience possible.

Halifax is something of a smaller market in comparison to some of Canada’s other capital cities, so creating a unique identity for a business in the Atlantic region is important if one wants to enjoy Scanway’s success. The business markets itself as ‘an East Coast hospitality group,’ but Anju feels that it stands out in the catering space through both its presentation and the superior quality of the food it makes.

“We get a lot of private events, VIP events, and weddings,” she remarks, recounting recent events at local landmarks like the Seton Spirituality Centre and the Halifax Convention Centre in the heart of the downtown area.

Beyond its customer-facing activities, it is a family-oriented company, as evidenced by its transfer from one family of entrepreneurs to another. Anju describes how employees are also treated as closely as family members. She stresses the importance of an open internal culture, where employees can bring ideas and opinions about event planning and more. By embracing this transparent internal structure, the company has been counted as a top employer in the city, even through hard times.

In the turbulent opening months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Scanway managed to pivot its operations to stay ahead of any difficulties and be one of the more viable businesses in the area. Before this, the company was primarily concerned with private catering opportunities and business contracts like the ones it still holds with several hotels in the Halifax Regional Municipality.

These hotel contracts came in handy since, during the pandemic. Many people, including local hospital employees and visitors to the area, had to quarantine in the hotels it served, as per quarantine regulations at the time. Scanway provided food to these people in quarantine, which helped it stay afloat and be able to pay its employees.

Anju cites another contract with the Halifax Airport’s Alt Hotel, for which the business began to supply pre-packaged meals, as a key partnership during this time. This regular opportunity also helped to keep the company busy, as did the launch of an online wing of its business, Pantry by Scanway, a packaged food delivery service.

This newer aspect of the business allows restaurant-quality food to be taken directly to customers, who then reheat it. The venture proved extremely successful right away amidst the global boom of food delivery resulting from lockdown measures. Anju is happy to say that Scanway kept running throughout the entirety of the pandemic without a single shut-down day and is quick to thank the workers who put so much effort into helping the business not just survive, but thrive in a difficult time. The contracts with several local hotels, such as Best Western, are still very much active, but overall, the future of the business is taken on a day-to-day basis and with heavy market consideration.

Although pandemic measures have lessened, there are still many troublesome areas that businesses are bumping up against in 2023, both in Canada and globally. The company is feeling the crunch from industry staffing shortages, as well as food price inflation. These pressures are causing widespread employment crises and food insecurity that is affecting people at all levels of industry.

Being in a smaller market has its advantages. Anju feels it is easier to get more regular business in and around Halifax, with brand recognition also being easier to spread than in a larger market like Toronto. The Scanway name has helped it to stay active in its home province for over forty years.

Anju reveals that the company has big plans for 2023 and is also on the lookout for any other kind of opportunity that may be in the market. The current path for the year involves the opening of a food hall in the Purdy’s Wharf building near the Halifax waterfront—a high-traffic location in proximity to nearby bustling hubs like Scotia Square. The opening has been slightly delayed to March or April, she reports, but is otherwise on track and will be momentous for the company.

Minimum wage in the province will be increasing to fifteen dollars an hour in 2023 which will be yet another challenge for the business. “I cannot raise prices accordingly, despite these factors, so to stay competitive, prices will remain low,” she says. The company is determined to keep moving forward in the face of these troubles.

It is also still looking to hire new people who are interested in working in the catering industry. Although the hiring market is amid considerable strain, Scanway is eager to welcome new faces into its family atmosphere. Anju and the team remain confident that the storms affecting all local businesses will be weathered, as the business moves ahead well into its fourth decade with a sense of pride in both its work and identity.

The post High-Quality Catering and a Family Atmosphere<p class="company">Scanway Catering</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Covering 777 square miles and home to 27,000 residents, Dickinson County boasts a remarkable range of popular attractions. “We have numerous things that offer a wide variety for a lot of people,” says Program Director for Downtown Iron Mountain, Mindy Meyers.

One of the area’s greatest attractions is its outdoor recreation in a stunning natural setting. “What makes us special is the accessibility to everything outdoors,” states Norway City Manager, Dan Stoltman.

Perfectly exemplifying this emphasis on outdoor recreation is the Dickinson Trail Network, formerly the Dickinson County Bike Path. A non-profit group run by dedicated volunteers makes it its mission to develop, maintain, and promote a network of non-motorized trails and routes throughout Dickinson County and the surrounding areas, with the goal of providing “an excellent source of outdoor recreation that is easily accessible to local residents and combines exciting terrain with our area’s incredible natural beauty.” The Trail Network also strives to attract tourists and mountain biking enthusiasts to Dickinson County and increase foot traffic and commerce to all businesses in this area.

The region perhaps is best known for its winter sports—with good reason—but is also a haven for warm weather activities. “There’s so much to do in all four seasons,” Meyers says.

Tourists and locals alike enjoy the area’s hunting, whitewater rafting, miles of bike and hiking trails, waterfall tours, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, and the largest ski jump in North America, which hosts the FIS Continental Cup ski jumping tournament each year. “We have ski jumpers from all over the world that come and compete,” says Mountain Media House Co-Founder, Elsa Pontbriand. “We see upwards of 10,000 people that come out and watch.”

In 2020, a $2.1 million investment was made to the ski jump. This project replaced the wooden in-run and scaffolding with new steel scaffolding and a new TopSpeed fiberglass in-run. In total, $3.4 million has been put into up fitting the jump so the Kiwanis Ski Club can continue hosting the International Ski Federation (FIS) Continental Cup competitions. There are hopes that, with the recent upgrades, the ski jump might even be a contender for a future World Cup competition.

Pine Mountain ski resort is conveniently located adjacent to the ski jump. “The resort has also seen major investments made over the past couple of years,” Pontbriand explains. “It draws people from all over the world here for downhill skiing.”

Public parks abound throughout the Dickinson area, many with state-of-the-art facilities, including ballparks that pull in big tournaments and championships. The City of Norway’s Marion Park claims three baseball fields, two soccer fields, one multipurpose field, four lit tennis courts, and horseshoe courts. Norway’s Strawberry Lake Park includes a walking trail, a canoe and kayak launch, accessible fishing piers, a ball field, BMX track, and plenty of parking. During the winter, the park opens an ice-skating rink and warming house and the walking trail is repurposed for cross-country skiing.

The Dickinson area has six golf courses including the multiple-award-winning Timberstone Golf Course, Bomber’s Golf Course’s U.S.G.A. 9-hole course set alongside rolling hills and the Menominee River, and Pine Grove Country Club’s eighteen-hole course, which is set amongst stunning natural scenery with virgin stands of pines, oaks, and maples. The city of Norway has Oak Crest golf course, an eighteen-hole course, and a restaurant.

Looking for a more science-minded activity that showcases the area’s commitment to ecologically-friendly power generation? The local hydroelectric facility, which produces 95 percent of the City of Norway’s power, offers a tour that encapsulates the spirit of the area. “The outdoors and our eco-friendly generation of power is kind of what makes Norway Norway,” Stoltman says.

Norway Spring is a well-known and unique local attraction. This bubbling fountain of pure, fresh water flows from deep within the earth to refresh visitors on a hot day. During the summer months the natural spring, conveniently located just off US 2, sees a steady stream of people armed with water bottles and jugs, eager to enjoy the cool, artesian spring water. The well was formed in 1903 when the Oliver Mining Company drilled a 1,094-foot shaft into the earth in search of iron ore. Since then, the site has been covered with carefully arranged rocks to create a lovely waterfall effect where the water bubbles to the surface.

Every Friday night throughout the summer months, stock car racing at the Norway Speedway always draws a crowd as well as racers from Michigan and Wisconsin. The fair comes to the Dickinson County Fairgrounds in Norway each year, and there are multiple festivals in Dowtown Iron Mountain. Italian Fest is a celebration of the Italian heritage and history of the area, while Oktoberfest transforms Iron Mountain into an authentic Bavarian celebration complete with polka dancing, sing-alongs, German cuisine and, of course, beer. BrewFest also features beer from regional microbrews, as well as malt beverages, hard seltzer, cocktails and wine. Last year’s event included ten breweries and two distilleries, as well as a variety of food trucks and live entertainment.

The area’s small town charm is another tourist magnet. “I think one thing that makes the area really special is downtown Iron Mountain,” Meyers says.

From gift shops and clothing boutiques to coffee shops, visitors will enjoy a variety of locally-owned, unique establishments with plenty of charm. “There’s a little bit of something for everybody when they come through the town,” she states.

“We have one restaurant, Spiro’s, where people come just because of the aesthetic of sitting outside in the summertime amongst the flowers,” she says. “We have bistro lights hung up across two of our streets’ downtown and into alleyways. So we’ve really created this cozy, Hallmark downtown.”

Community leaders work with shop owners to keep Iron Mountain’s downtown looking its best, from seasonal decorations to matching banners promoting current festivals. “Our downtown development authority has worked closely with business owners in our downtown to coordinate decorating storefront windows in a cohesive manner so you know something special is happening,” she says. “So when you drive through at Halloween time you get the spooky, fall, cozy vibe or at Christmastime, everybody’s got their windows decorated. I think that makes a big difference.”

Iron Mountain has a beautification committee dedicated to planting flowers throughout the downtown, creating lovely scenes brimming with hanging baskets and pocket gardens. “It’s all done by volunteers,” she affirms. “They have that community pride and they want people to notice that things are nice here. They take pride in their home.”

Norway residents are equally committed to their downtown. “When you’re small and tight-knit and everyone knows everyone, it seems to bring a lot of community pride out where people want to take ownership in their downtown in their community,” Stoltman says. “We have a really active downtown development authority that meets every month. They’re interested in improving the downtown, and we support them so they can continue to improve and work with businesses to make sure the storefronts are looking as inviting as possible.”

This community-wide effort has led to cohesive branding throughout the town of Norway. “Our city emblem is a Viking,” he says. “We have three Viking ships on each entry into the city limits and we have a Viking pocket park downtown with a giant Viking statue.” The figure is located just off US 2, at the intersection with Main Street. Drivers passing by the community cannot miss it. “The intention is really to grab people’s attention, and I think it has,” he says.

Art lovers enjoy the public art on display throughout the area. A few years ago, the Iron Mountain Downtown Development Authority worked closely with Mia Tavonatti and her team of artists to create the Power of Words project. “We have murals throughout our downtown with words that our communities submitted like, hope, inspire and believe,” Meyers says. Iron Mountain’s streets are lined with “these big, beautiful, colorful murals that draw people to our downtown.”

The location is particularly popular for graduation photo shoots. “We have a lot of senior photos that happen downtown,” she notes. A local running club hosts a mural run every spring, with the race winding past these vivid downtown art displays. Two more public art installations will be added this year. “Our community anticipates the installation of these works that will be displayed in a frequented alleyway and above one of our busiest nightlife streets downtown,” she adds.

Tourists eager to enjoy all that the Dickinson area has to offer will find the destination surprisingly convenient. With Green Bay, Wisconsin only a ninety-minute drive away, the community offers small town charm close to urban centers. Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and Chicago are just five hours away via major highways.

“We’re fairly central in the Upper Peninsula and we sit right on the border of Wisconsin,” says Pontbriand. “It’s easily accessible. We have an airport that flies daily to Minneapolis, Minnesota and Detroit, Michigan.” This makes the Dickinson area an ideal location on which to center a vacation and explore the Upper Peninsula. “We’re a good home base,” she points out. “We have much to offer.”

The location, natural beauty, outdoor recreation, and small-town charm keep tourists coming back to the Dickinson area year after year. “It’s like a little pocket of magic we have here that doesn’t exist in a lot of other places,” she summarizes.

The post A Tourist Treasure<p class="company">Dickinson Area EDA</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

The city, known worldwide for its beautiful beaches, resorts, convention centers, casinos, and entertainment venues, came together and rebuilt.

Atlantic City faced consecutive challenges, including the foreclosure crisis, recession, and COVID-19. The collective economic impact of these crises also changed the landscape of neighborhoods and industries, while demonstrating the tenacity and resilience of Atlantic City, including a fully operational municipal government throughout the pandemic. Following the easing of pandemic-related restrictions and the growing popularity of online gambling, Atlantic City’s casino revenues increased 10 percent, with total casino revenue going from $4.7 billion in 2021 to $5.2 billion in 2022.

“This has always been a resort city,” says Jacques Howard, Atlantic City’s Planning and Development Director. Having joined the team in 2020 as Assistant Planning and Development Director, Howard was promoted to his current position in 2022.

In 1978, Atlantic City became home to Resorts International, the first legal casino on America’s east coast. “It was always a town where gambling occurred, and a town known for its premier entertainment… the town was buzzing. And with the creation of the casinos, it localized and vertically centralized activities.”

Casinos and so much more
As a barrier island, the planning and development of AC is a unique process, shaped in large part by its vulnerability to environmental and climate impacts. Planning and development were strong before 1978, but after that, the city saw changes from local, state, and federal perspectives, particularly from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Regulations were instituted governing the quality of water, air, and soil, the protection of certain species and waterfronts, and more.

Today, these EPA regulations continue to shape development strategies in Atlantic City, and other areas throughout the U.S. “So our role has been amplified to take into consideration these environmental concerns,” says Howard, “and most recently, with the concept of JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion) and the governor of New Jersey instituting new regulations to advance what we call environmental equity.”

Planning comprehensively for the City, therefore, now requires a greater focus on the impact of climate change on development, neighborhoods and resilience. Historically, waste plants and other noxious developments have frequently been located in areas that are poor, Black, and non-white, adversely affecting these communities. “So the move now is to mitigate those effects, and this encompasses those elements as well as the broader issue of climate impact changes,” Howard explains.

Buttressing the barrier islands
Famous for its history, entertainment, attractions, casinos, and sparkling depictions in film and television dramas like the Prohibition-era Boardwalk Empire, Atlantic City is also known as a barrier island. Forming a barrier between the mainland and the Atlantic Ocean, it helps to protect the mainland from wind, waves, and strong currents.

Rutgers University’s Center for Coastal and Environmental Studies said that New Jersey’s barrier islands mean many things to different people, such as fishing, clamming, attractive spaces for both beach-goers and bird watchers, and glittering Atlantic City casinos. However, barrier Islands have their downside.

While proving “a refuge from the problems and rush of daily life,” according to New Jersey’s Barrier Islands: An Ever-Changing Public Resource, “Barrier islands are inherently unstable: they move and change shape in response to storms, tides, winds, and human efforts to create stability.”

With this in mind, New Jersey has seen climate impact studies and key recommendations, some specifically related to a predicted rise in sea levels. And with Atlantic City itself a barrier island, it is the most affected by proposed legislation and regulations that can affect redevelopment activities and the preservation of neighborhoods within Atlantic City.

Canal care
Much of Atlantic City is built on infill, and as a barrier island, the city, in its early days, identified ways to mitigate flooding. These included the Baltic Avenue Drainage Canal. Originally built in the mid-1800s, the Canal runs underneath the city from one point to the other, drawing the overflow of water and dumping it out on the other side of the island.

In late 2020, the Baltic Avenue Canal reactivation project was created following a federal grant of $2.45 billion. The Canal’s deteriorating old wooden structures were upgraded with new pumps and gates. With built-in resiliency measures for long-term durability, the height of some bulkheads was also increased to eight feet, helping mitigate flooding in key neighborhoods.

“We have pump stations in addition to floodgates and the Baltic Avenue Canal,” says Howard, adding that, “the reconstruction of bulkheads and the existing jetties and beach replenishment take place regularly.”

Along with flood mitigation measures, the city was also recently part of a major study, along with five municipalities in Atlantic County, called Atlantic County Coastal Resiliency. “That study presented any number of innovative means by which we could preserve the integrity, to the extent possible, of the city’s neighborhoods and the city’s ability to create development while at the same time recognizing the need to create open spaces as well,” shares Howard.

“Specifically, our role is everything that is planning-related: from a concept plan to an adjustment to an existing zoning ordinance, to redevelopment and/or new development, which would include all kinds of projects—anything from residential to mixed-use, industrial, or institutional,” says Howard.

Some of the Planning and Development Department’s many responsibilities encompass planning and zoning boards, redevelopment plans, conveyance of properties, auction sales, and revocable licenses. “There’s quite a range of activities that we’re responsible for—everything from resiliency issues and sustainability to circulation to building development—plus urban agriculture.”

Working toward the future
While many of Atlantic City’s longtime industries remain—such as clamming, shellfishing, and candy manufacturing (it is where saltwater taffy originated in 1883)—the area is welcoming new sectors, including offshore wind. A decade ago, a mini wind farm was established through the Atlantic County Improvement Authority (ACIA). Atlantic City and surrounding areas are ideal for offshore wind, owing to their waterfront access and deep harbors.

“The state of New Jersey wants to be the lead entity throughout the Atlantic coast for wind-generated energy,” says Howard, adding that two giants of the green energy sector, Ørsted and Atlantic Shores, now have a presence in the state.

Realizing offshore wind farms will require workers in the future, Atlantic Cape Community College recently established the new, 1,700-square-foot Wind Training Center at its Worthing Atlantic City campus. It was financed as part of a state grant of almost $3 million to further grow New Jersey’s offshore wind sector. This initiative and others, such as supporting the blue economy—everything derived from the sea—and working on an innovation zone for start-up companies, will see the city’s economy expand into other areas.

“In our case, we would be creating a district that would hopefully be populated with the opportunity for flex space and a reason to come in,” says Howard. “We’re trying to increase the perception and the reality of the city as a family destination, but we’re also looking to diversify the city’s economy.

While many still think of Atlantic City as strictly a gaming town, it is changing under Mayor Marty Small, Sr., who is leading the transformation of this legendary spot into more of a family destination. “This upcoming Memorial Day Weekend, we will see Atlantic City open the world’s largest indoor / outdoor beachfront waterpark, at the same location that recently opened the largest arcade on the East Coast and an indoor go-kart track. Mayor Small has taken initiatives to build up our entrepreneurial force by creating an Entrepreneurial Center, and has undertaken several other initiatives to attract growth industries and increase future job opportunities for the residents of Atlantic City,” says Howard.

And this vision, underpinned by smart and mindful planning, is sure to play a key role in shaping the area’s bright future.

The post Renewing the Past and Embracing the New<p class="company">Atlantic City, New Jersey</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Sweetwater County’s stunning scenery and wide-open, unspoiled spaces are huge draws. The high desert that comprises the community—eighty-five percent of which is public land—is known as one of the state’s most dramatic landscapes. Visitors and locals alike revel in this unique outdoor playground.

“Sweetwater County is abundant in outdoor recreational opportunities,” says Kayla McDonald, Economic Development Specialist for the Sweetwater Economic Development Coalition (SEDC). “You have it all here.”

Lake Flaming Gorge, the largest reservoir in the state of Wyoming, delights tourists with its ninety-one miles of fishing, boating, hiking, and paddle boarding. The lovely byway that meanders around the pristine waters has earned the designation All-American Road—one of only thirty-seven in the United States—and is a destination in its own right with its wealth of spectacular views. Tourists can explore these via a full-day guided bus tour provided by Sweetwater County Travel and Tourism. The byway tour includes nine scenic stops as well as lunch and ice cream.

Killpecker Sand Dunes is one of the county’s most remarkable destinations. Centuries of erosion along two rivers have formed 11,000 acres of soft sand to explore, as well as otherworldly buttes and spires, including the Boar’s Tusk, which stretches a towering four hundred feet into the sky. The site is ideal for riding dune buggies, dirt bikes, and ATVs. Beginners learn the ropes along flat stretches of sand and smaller dunes, while experienced riders challenge their skills on massive, ten-story-tall dunes. Other tourists enjoy sledding, surfing, or skiing down the dunes. Playing Frisbee or beach volleyball or just admiring the stunning sunset views are other common activities. Hiking the dunes is also popular and is sometimes rewarded with a glimpse of the rare desert elk, found nowhere else on the continent.

Sweetwater County’s wild horses are another unique attraction. These majestic animals roam free through the beautiful high desert and can be viewed from the Pilot Butte Wild Horse Scenic Loop. The twenty-four-mile gravel road takes tourists along gorgeous vistas and overlooks where, in addition to the famous wild horses, travelers may spot a variety of wild animals, from rabbits and coyotes to desert elk, hawks, eagles, and more.

Many tourists enjoy exploring the county on a mountain bike. They find plenty of places to ride as the area boasts the top trails in Wyoming, according to singletracktrails.com.

Sweetwater County is also home to an award-winning downtown where Rock Springs charms visitors with quaint streets lined with historic buildings, locally-owned boutiques and shops, restaurants, and craft breweries. With more than seven hundred events held there annually, visitors will almost always find a special event to attend during their visit.

In addition to the hundreds of smaller events, Sweetwater County hosts several signature events each year. Wyoming’s Big Show is a weeklong extravaganza packed full of carnival rides, rodeo action, concerts, 4-H exhibits, livestock exhibits, dining opportunities and more. The annual River Festival includes a microbrewery beer garden, Cajun shrimp boil and spaghetti dinner, live music, fireworks, races—including the Run with the Horses Marathon—and a car show. Art on the Green, a 24-hour live painting and sculpting competition, is held on the same weekend.

Known as the ‘Home of 56 Nationalities,’ Rock Springs celebrates its diversity with International Day, showcasing the community’s rich and diverse history with exhibits, costumes, live entertainment, and food representing local ethnicities.

Sweetwater County’s location is ideal for the tourist industry. Two of the county’s towns, Rock Springs and Green River, are conveniently located along the intersection of I-80 and Hwy 191 in southwest Wyoming, a gateway to Wyoming’s National Parks.

“Visitors to Wyoming primarily enjoy a road trip around the state and the location of Sweetwater County offers a prime opportunity for travelers to get out and explore our high desert landscape as part of that overall road trip,” says Jenissa Meredith, Chief Executive Officer of Sweetwater County Travel and Tourism.

Local leaders are eager to support and promote the county’s tourism industry, and the industry continues to grow. “It is no secret that the incredible landscape, abundant wildlife, and outdoor recreation opportunities that we all know and love are also very attractive to visitors from around the country and world,” Meredith says.

“While our advertising efforts alone generated $65 million in visitor spending in 2022, total visitor spending typically reaches almost $160 million annually (calculated by Dean Runyan & Assoc.), which is money realized in the cash registers of our valued local businesses. Tourism is big business in Sweetwater County. It is truly an honor to work for a dedicated board, and with a talented team of marketing professionals, to showcase this great county.”

Funded by lodging tax dollars, Sweetwater County Travel and Tourism commissions a conversion and advertising effectiveness study to track the success of marketing campaigns. The study has found that the return on investment for every advertising dollar spent is $399. The average tourist party is made up of 2.7 people spending an average of $1,400 over three days in Sweetwater County while enjoying an average of 4.1 activities. An increase in advertising awareness between 2021 and 2022 has been effective as evidenced by a more positive opinion of the area.

Every three years, Sweetwater County Travel and Tourism commissions a lodging study to determine if guests at local hotels and campgrounds are business or leisure travelers. The first study, done in 2007, revealed that the leisure occupancy in Sweetwater County was eight percent. Today leisure travel averages have skyrocketed to over 30 percent.

“We take our jobs of marketing Sweetwater County as a tourism destination very seriously, and it has been exciting to see the visitor economy grow and thrive over the years,” Meredith says.

Sweetwater County Travel and Tourism launches a multi-media marketing campaign every spring to encourage summer tourism, and all year long, it stays active on multiple social media channels, develops tourism products, works to recruit events to the community, and hosts local tours.

In addition, it operates the Explore Rock Springs & Green River Visitor Center. Conveniently located on Hwy 191, where many travelers pass on their way to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, the center reminds tourists that there is a wealth of local attractions beyond those well-known destinations.

Sweetwater County Travel and Tourism is certainly not in it alone. There has been a team effort to increase tourism to the county, with multiple organizations pitching in for the good of the community. “The relationship between our organization and the chambers of commerce, our visitor centers here, and the travel and tourism board with Sweetwater County is a great relationship,” McDonald says. “We cross-promote for all of us.”

Additional ideas are on the table to attract even more visitors. This includes everything from renovating historic buildings in Rock Spring’s picturesque downtown to converting an old train depot into a train museum to attract train enthusiasts to Green River, which has already earned the designation Train City, USA. “They’re trying to be creative in attracting more tourists,” McDonald says.

Local leaders are also working to attract businesses that would bolster the local tourism industry, as well as the local economy as a whole. “We’re trying to get more of the recreational type businesses here,” McDonald says. These efforts come on the heels of a recent success regarding business expansion as firearms company KelTec recently announced a move to Sweetwater County and the acquisition of a 33,000-square-foot facility after the economic development coalition made a concerted effort to recruit the company. “That’s huge for us,” she adds.

With new businesses moving in and a tourist industry that continues to grow, Sweetwater County is on the rise. Whether it is to stop by and admire the stunning scenery and enjoy the outdoor activities or to take advantage of the related business opportunities, the area is getting noticed for good reason.

The post America’s Nature Playground<p class="company">Sweetwater County, Wyoming</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

To support this influx of visitors while preserving and even improving the quality of life of its residents, the city’s leadership makes strategic investments in the infrastructure and amenities to create an economically prosperous, vibrant, diverse, and environmentally conscious community that welcomes all.

Mayor Eric Genrich highlighted some of the priorities of Green Bay including, “Diversity in housing types and neighborhoods and experiences: we want to be an open, welcoming community that really appreciates diverse experiences and backgrounds.”

Down by the Bay
As a Great Lakes coastal community named for the bay on which it is located, industry in Green Bay has long prospered from its position at the mouth of a working river, the Fox River. Last year, 1.75 million tons of cargo moved through the Port of Green Bay. Countless individuals and families flocked to the water for fun and enjoyment.

“People love to be on the water. We haven’t always had the right balance, the right orientation between our natural resources and our industry and I think we’ve gone a long way to strike the right balance here,” says Mayor Genrich.

From Fox River cleanups that are bringing the river back to health, to redevelopment efforts at industrial sites, there has been significant time and money invested to make the waterfront a place for everyone and everything to thrive, and in particular, tourism.

In 2021, tourism accounted for a total economic impact of more than $1 billion on the economy of Brown County and generated $86 million in local tax revenue for the City of Green Bay, and looking ahead, the future is nothing but bright thanks to key investments in the waterfront infrastructure.

A recent downtown dock wall renovation and expansion project enabled the return of cruise ships to Green Bay for the first time in decades. Last year, two Great Lakes cruise ships docked there, and in 2023 more are expected, which will be a great opportunity for businesses in the downtown, an area that has been the focus of redevelopment for some time.

President and CEO of Discover Green Bay Brad Toll notes, “The strength and well-being of our community are predicated on a strong downtown space and city center. Much like in the human body, it’s the heart that pumps lifeblood into our region. The tourism economy in Green Bay is making a strong comeback from the COVID pandemic in large part because of our downtown amenities and developments.”

Adjacent to the dock project on the western shoreline, two large waterfront park expansion projects are underway, one at Leicht Memorial Park and the other at Shipyard Park, designed to include floating docks, fishing piers, kayak launches, and concert stages.

The waterfront is also home to Bay Beach, one of the oldest and best-known municipally-owned amusement parks in the United States, the City Deck promenade which is a great place to enjoy Green Bay’s four seasons, and the world’s largest freshwater estuary, which means residents and tourists share the area with countless bird and animal species that call the area home—a nature enthusiast’s dream!

What sets Green Bay apart is that the focus on conservation has not been at the expense of the economy. Industries are also seeing massive investment with Green Bay Packaging opening a new $500 million paperboard mill and Georgia-Pacific expanding its Broadway mill with a $500 million investment, a true testament to the environmental/economic balance the Mayor spoke of.

Bouncing back
It’s no secret that the pandemic was a blow to tourism worldwide and Green Bay was not immune. To negate this impact, there has been a concerted effort to not only return the sector to strength but also to take attraction efforts to the next level.

“We’ve bounced back strongly, thanks in part to some of the programs we’ve put in place here but really because of the work of our business community continuing to be incredibly resilient in the face of a once-in-a-century pandemic,” says Mayor Genrich.

The city committed $450,000 in ARPA funds to create a tourism events grant that has seeded a number of new events and expanded others, such as the highly successful Sistine Chapel Art Exhibit, the UWGB Jazz Festival, and the Levitt AMP music series.

The Mayor also credited the State of Wisconsin for being “all-in” when it came to supporting tourism, as $2.5 million were dedicated to Discover Green Bay and its efforts to establish a new visitor’s center to improve the guest experience and encourage visitors to explore more of what the region has to offer.

Mayor Genrich explains the visitor center and its impact on the community: “It’s going to be a great front door for us as a community to have a brand new visitor center close to Lambeau.” He says it will tell a broader story about the city and all it has to offer.

“When people think about visitors’ centers, they don’t always think about the role they can play in attracting talented individuals to permanently relocate to your community, but that’s the way that Discover Green Bay looks at things.”

Room + willingness equals growth
Through its focus on tourism and development, Green Bay is supporting an improved quality of life for its residents which makes it attractive to visitors, prospective residents, and businesses looking to invest in a community that’s on the right trajectory.

For all of these reasons and more, U.S. News & World Report ranked Green Bay the third best community to live in in the country for its attractive way of life, cost of living, and the natural endowments and amenities it offers.

Always great places to sample the flavors of a community are local farmers’ markets or public market spaces and Green Bay will soon have a new public market to enjoy. The city has invested $500,000 in renovations to Old Fort Square, which is in the Broadway business improvement district. The reimagined space will be home to the market which is scheduled to open this fall.

Another highly anticipated addition to the community is the Mulva Cultural Center which is slated to open this year in De Pere, just south of Green Bay. This promises to be a world-class cultural destination that will showcase traveling exhibits and will boast a state-of-the-art theater, education center, and other community-enriching spaces that will support the embrace of diversity as part of the city’s growth.

Reflecting on Green Bay’s growth, the Mayor referred to it as a “Goldilocks” kind of community: “We’re not too small and we’re not too large and we’re not too densely populated at this point; we have a lot of room to redevelop and take on these infill projects at brownfield industrial sites, repurposing them for residential and commercial development, so we’re uniquely positioned to grow but grow in a way that is completely manageable.”

By growing steadily and strategically, Green Bay has developed into a truly unique destination. If you haven’t already been, it should be on your U.S. travel bucket list. Like many other visitors to the region, it will leave you planning your return in the not-so-distant future.

The post A City Making Itself Irresistible<p class="company">City of Green Bay, Wisconsin</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

“I don’t believe there’s anything like it in the state of Louisiana,” says Bill Rodier, CEO of the St. Landry Economic Development Group. “In fact, [what we’re doing] is being looked at in many areas. We’re being called in to assist in developing some of the things we’re doing as best practices in other areas of the state.”

The Parish has created four distinct economic development boards that work together for the good of the community. “They complement each other,” Rodier says. “They’re really coming together to make significant advances.” Rather than just “shooting for a big project,” the goal is to provide permanent, systemic support. “We’re building a foundation here and it’s going to be very, very transformational over time.”

The boards are composed of 46 volunteers, “so nobody’s getting paid to do this,” Rodier says. Each of these volunteers are committed, invested members of the community. “It brings a lot of talent and professionals from around the community with specific roles and really brings their talent into the decision-making, prioritization, and expenditure of monies to help promote Economic Development. It gives us a lot of diversity and brings people to the table to help move progress forward.”

Three of the boards are quasi-governmental: the St. Landry Industrial Development District, Central St. Landry Economic Development District, and the Opelousas Downtown Development District. The fourth board, known as Vision St. Landry, is a CEO roundtable with up to seventeen local C-level executives and is classified as a non-profit 501c6.

The seventeen-member St. Landry Industrial Development District acts as an “operational engine,” Rodier explains. “All of our staff and a lot of our expenditures and operational functions operate within the St. Landry Industrial Development. Its responsibility is to ensure Economic Development across St. Landry Parish.” The board also guides and oversees the smaller boards to ensure cohesion.

The St. Landry Industrial Development District capitalizes on the assets throughout St. Landry Parish to stimulate investment, from supporting local colleges to expanding the regional airport, industrial parks, and railways within the community. The broad outlook prevents a myopic focus on the Parish core, ensuring that key business districts receive their needed share of development, but not at the cost of the rest of the Parish, which includes 12 communities spread over 940 square miles.

“I would generally say our role is to stimulate investment, whether that’s investment of businesses within the community, investment of communities to help bring resources in to build their infrastructure or of course, bringing investment in from the outside,” Rodier summarizes.

The Central St. Landry Economic Development District is responsible for investing in infrastructure capacity along the I-49 Corridor, which runs through Opelousas, the Parish’s largest city. “They are independently funded with an increment taxing mechanism,” Rodier says of the board. “They have autonomy to spend funds; they don’t need permission necessarily from Parish government or city government. They have the autonomy to collect those monies and they have a responsibility to reinvest those monies.”

The board’s infrastructure investments benefit the entire community and “make for a better business environment across one of our fastest growing and highest potential growth areas in St. Landry Parish and the backbone of St. Landry Parish,” Rodier says. “They’ve been extraordinarily successful.”

Just a few of the many recent efforts by the Central St. Landry Economic Development District include the installation of LED lighting at I-49 interchanges as well as landscaping and trash removal along the interstate on a regular basis. Prior to this, the corridor was only cleaned four times a year by the Department of Transportation. The board has also overseen the construction of a new wastewater treatment facility within their jurisdiction. The work has paid off. “We’re seeing a tidal wave of growth come into their district,” Rodier says.

The Opelousas Downtown Development District is committed to stimulating economic growth within the Parish’s biggest city. Independently funded and armed with the power to collect and invest these funds, this board has received a sizable building improvement grant, has already installed top of the line lighting throughout the downtown, and is currently considering sidewalk and road improvement projects.

In the “heart of St. Landry Parish,” improvements to Opelousas’ downtown will have a positive effect on the entire community, Rodier explains. “If you want to go someplace to look at the health and vitality of a community—it’s almost like a thermometer—go look at your downtown. If downtowns are thriving, chances are the community is well planned, they get along well, they’re progressive. If downtowns aren’t, it shows exactly the opposite; that the community is struggling, they probably don’t have good planning, they’re probably not getting along well with their leadership. It’s just a good barometer of how a community is doing. We recognize that.”

The seven members of the Opelousas Downtown Development District are “very progressive in some of the things that they’re doing,” Rodier says. The team is currently working on implementing a recently developed Master Plan, which covers a variety of projects designed to strengthen the community’s core. The efforts complement the work along the community’s other core area, the I-49 Corridor. “As with an individual, if you strengthen your core, you make your whole body stronger. So we’re focused on the greater St. Landry area, but we also want to make sure that we have a super strong core.”

The CEO roundtable, Vision St. Landry, complements all three of the other boards by providing valuable advice and guidance from industry experts. “We have this brain trust available of these folks that are in these C-level positions,” Rodier says. They “are brought to the table to say, ‘look, these are the challenges and opportunities that we have. How can we potentially better capitalize on that to try to keep all these groups focused on pulling in the same direction and having their activities somewhat autonomous in some cases, but overall complementary?’”

These business leaders step back and examine the big picture to ensure all boards are working in tandem. “[They] look at some of the larger challenges that we are facing,” Rodier says. “They’re in positions in their jobs of looking at things from a high level and really evaluating those types of challenges and bringing potential strategies and solutions together. We feel like that’s a very valuable component and a complement of the quasi-governmental boards. It’s proven over time to be a very valuable piece of our Economic Development equation.”

The symbiotic relationship between all four boards has already yielded exciting results throughout the Parish, from recent facility expansions of major food manufacturers to the recent designation ‘Equine Parish of Louisiana’ by the state legislature.

And board members are not sitting on their laurels. They are eager to take advantage of recent successes to bring even more economic advances to the area. It is now a priority to ramp up investment in equine-related projects, including the creation of new venues, a sales facility, a new equine trail, and more. Health care is another area of focus with many opportunities for growth. Already home to multiple food manufacturers—including regional favorite Tony Chachere’s Famous Creole Cuisine—St. Landry Parish is ripe for additional growth within that industry. “This area is very, very well known for its food and spice production,” Rodier shares.

Transportation, distribution, and warehousing are other areas of focus, particularly along the I-49 and Highway 190 Corridors. “We are getting more and more interest in it,” and plans are already on the table to boost infrastructure within those targeted areas in order to support the industry.

Armed with a unique and creative leadership structure, St. Landry Parish is more than ready to accomplish this next set of goals—and one can only wonder what will be next on the agenda.

The post Building a Lasting Foundation<p class="company">St. Landry Parish, Louisiana</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Cruising vacations are back. British business mogul Richard Branson has launched his adults-only Virgin Voyages line with tattoo parlours, live bands, and drag shows, and film legend Sophia Loren is christening her 21^st ship for MSC Cruises in New York this December.

But the past couple of years have not been kind to the cruise industry. Almost overnight, cruising went from being a juggernaut within the travel sector, taking in more than USD 27 billion yearly, to a situation that was nothing short of carnage. The industry suffered a nearly 50 percent reduction in income and a mind-blowing 80 percent reduction in passengers. And as the pandemic took hold worldwide, near-entire fleets were docked to wait out the global lockdowns.

But what is equally remarkable is the recent resurgence in cruising as countries and their ports of call have eased or removed restrictions.

A CNN article notes the comeback that cruising has made in 2022. After the near disappearance of cruise ships during the 15-month-long pandemic lockdown, 75 percent of all cruise ships are again sailing the oceans. Colleen McDaniel, Editor-in-Chief of the popular cruise review site, Cruise Critic, saw reasons to be optimistic about the industry again: “We’re seeing shoppers and cruise bookings increase week after week, which is fantastic news for the industry.”

There are all kinds of good vibes about the future coming from industry insiders as well. In an interview with Cruise and Ferry, Kelly Craighead of the Cruise Lines International Association had this to say about the outlook: “According to the latest World Tourism Barometer, tourism continues to recover at a stronger than expected pace. Worldwide, the first quarter of 2022 showed a 182 percent rebound with an estimated 117 million international arrivals.”

But along with all this exuberance about the triumphant return of cruising, questions about the industry have also returned. For years, concerns have been voiced about the impact of the industry on the environment, the ports of call the ships visit, and even the health impacts on passengers and crews of cruise lines. As commonly depicted, cruise ships are floating cities with up to thousands of people on board. When one of these ships pulls into a small port of call, there are many forms of large-scale consequences both good and bad.

CNN reports on the impact of these vessels as thousands of visitors descend at the same time, as opposed to the flow of other kinds of travellers whose impact is more spread out across a city. It’s also the cruisers who are less likely to inject meaningful capital into a port as they are only there for a few hours.

In one of the world’s most famous destinations, Venice, Jane da Mosto, co-founder and executive director of the not-for-profit organization, We Are Here Venice, explains to CNN the impact that cruise ships, in particular, have on the city:

“The residents suffer very much and it’s beginning to feel that we are deprived of our civil rights,” says da Mosto, adding that the concentrated flow of cruise ships is making the city uninhabitable for Venetians. “The cruise ship industry needs to take in the fragility of Venice, and that their business model has become unsustainable and very damaging.”

In fact, the residents of Venice have voted to ban the larger cruise ships from the city’s waters altogether.

This aspect of the industry is complicated, as while there can be a negative impact on the local fabric when these ships dock, they also inject money in the form of taxes and docking fees to the ports as well as the money that passengers spend ashore.

When you consider the environmental impact of the cruise industry, you also have to wonder about the size of the ships themselves. They are among the largest ships on the oceans. Many of these are over three football fields long and are loaded with all the bells and whistles of a brassy resort ashore—like ice rinks, pools and rollercoasters. Yes, rollercoasters. And moving these massive ships from port to port takes a great deal of fuel. Studies have shown that one cruise ship alone can produce emissions equal to 12,000 cars. So when a passenger boards a cruise ship, their carbon footprint actually triples.

Compounding the environmental impact is the type of fuel that is burned. Mark Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, talked to Popular Science about the impact of the fuel used by cruise ships. “They generally use bunker fuel which is the dirtiest type of fuel. Bunker fuel puts out a lot of black carbon, sulphates, and other chemicals. Black carbon is the second leading cause of global warming after carbon dioxide.”

Not only is the fuel used by these ships detrimental to the environment, but the cruise industry also has a bad track record when it comes to disposing of waste, with one large cruise ship producing a ton or more of waste per day.

Back in January, Princess Cruise Lines was fined $1 million by the U.S. Department of Justice for dumping waste for a second time. This was after pleading guilty to deliberately dumping oil-contaminated waste from one of its ships in 2017 when it was fined $40 million.

And remember the bunker fuel that powers these ships? The fumes from that can lead to very poor air quality for the passengers and crew. Researchers have found the composition of the air on a cruise ship to be similar to that of heavily polluted cities. People who work on these ships, as well as passengers and those living in the ports the ships visit, are also paying a price for these cruises with their health.

All of this doesn’t sound like a great trade-off for the planet or its inhabitants. Under pressure, like many other fuel-driven industries, the cruise line industry is beginning to look at what can be done to reduce emissions.

As with cars, the way to reduce these harmful emissions may be fuel cells. Some ferries are already using fuel cells for short distances and the current record for a cell powering one of these ships is about 50 nautical miles.

In 2019, the Norwegian cruise line Hurtigruten launched MS Roald Amundsen, the world’s first battery hybrid-powered cruise ship, and in October 2021, the company’s MS Fridtjof Nansen was named the most sustainable cruise ship by Scope ESG Analysis.

Beyond these ships, the company is working with Norway research company Trondheim to develop zero-emission ships by 2030. The project builds on the current state of design, propulsion energy, and fuel use to come up with a sustainable option for cruising. Between upgrades and new additions to the fleet, Hurtigruten will cut emissions by 25 percent and nitric oxide by 80 percent.

In another case of improved environmental stewardship, Carnival Corp has installed about 600 food waste biodigesters across its global fleet to combat food waste. The technology uses a “natural” aerobic digestion process that uses a mixture of microorganisms inside each machine to break down food waste—all part of a corporate-wide initiative to reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2030.

Other goals include sending 100 percent of waste to waste-to-energy facilities and promoting almost 100 percent reuse of packaging materials by 2050.

At Celebrity Cruises, the sewage treatment plants onboard some ships have been upgraded to a new biological treatment technology called CleanSewage Membrane Reactor for the removal of 99 percent of solids and bacteria, including microplastics and viruses. The treated water is reportedly pure enough to be re-used in other ship functions like laundry.

Innovations like these aside, what is missing from the industry are standards that are held across the international cruising industry. Right now, you could sail a ship through the gaps in the rule books that currently exist. But, ironically, it is the lack of regulation that creates the biggest appeal for travellers—namely the lower prices that come with the low regulatory standards of these floating resorts.

Critics say these prices are achieved through a lack of regulation which allows for lower wages for the crew and lax observance of environmental protection acts. Others say pricing reflects the sheer number of passengers that can be accommodated, and many ships make most of their money from what people purchase on board.

Ultimately, the future of this industry will come down to the passengers. If people begin to question the environmental and social consequences that come with a cheap trip around the Caribbean, and opt not to cruise, changes may come quickly, and those changes could put cruising into smooth sailing for the long run.

The post Cruising Along<p class="company">The Comeback on the High Seas</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Producing captivating visitor experiences in imagination and immersive storytelling for location-based entertainment such as theme parks, tourist attractions, water parks, mixed-use, and resorts, Toronto-based FORREC operates across six continents. Its policy is to work with the best partners, operators, brands, and developers to achieve success around the world.

The five pillars

Maintaining that success, however, means constantly striving for improvement.

The team consciously base their efforts on a solid foundation of five key pillars, embracing elevated creativity, unparalleled experience, unprecedented relationships, exceptional talent, and delivering the vision. FORREC also constantly looks to make advances in its brand awareness, including a long-term strategic plan using an outside consultant in 2020.

During this study, it became clear that FORREC’s existing brand reflected neither who it was as a company today nor its aspirations for the future. As part of this exercise, FORREC included a goal to undergo a rebranding to better align with its new strategy, values, identity, and dreams.

Led by FORREC’s marketing team, the company set up a small internal task force to help create a new look and feel for FORREC, with a logo redesign, new website, and new brand positioning, along with bringing in creative agency Cundari to help the company evaluate its biases and preconceptions, and also define the brand’s core.

“In addition, they helped us identify our brand purpose and how to achieve this purpose—the way we talk and focus on our offering,” says Cale Heit, President and CEO. “In many ways it was like lifting a heavy cloak off our shoulders. We don’t want to lose sight of our tremendous history and how we got to where we are today, but rather celebrate and honour our past so we can welcome new opportunities for the next generation of FORREC.”

Speaking of the company website, Heit adds that it’s a very important tool that helps to communicate FORREC’s brand to the outside world, but when push comes to shove, the old-school way of word-of-mouth still reigns supreme. “Our reach is most effective through the FORREC team, and through our relationships and network within this amazing experience-design industry we work in.”

Focus regained

Heit goes on to say, “As with many companies, over time we had lost our brand essence and focus as the company evolved over the years and slowly made adjustments that inevitably lost alignment with its original vision. With our new brand, we now communicate in sync with the tool kit created through the new brand development.”

In keeping with the original vision, FORREC continues to grow as a company in many areas, from project types and size to markets, scope, and deliverables, says Heit.

“We realize that our relationship with our clients is the key to our success,” he adds. But it’s clear that equal in importance to these relationships is the effect of FORREC’s outstanding talent. As a company that celebrates “we,” FORREC is highly collaborative, creating project teams of professionals from many disciplines working closely together to exceed anything that their clients themselves could have dreamt of.

“To achieve this, we are continually looking to find amazing people who share similar values, are opportunistic, and wish to grow in an exciting industry,” says Heit. “We also need to ensure we have the expertise to deliver on our expanding services to our clients. In addition to our internal expertise, FORREC as lead consultant in the design of projects continues to expand upon our external partners to provide a fuller end-to-end service offering.”

Those services include a wide variety of experiences such as innovative VR to help clients visualize parks, and sustainable design elements to make operating a park as efficient and eco-friendly as possible.

“We live in a three-dimensional world and are very much attuned to visualizing in 3D,” Heit says. “I can recall well over 25 years ago when most of the design happened on a 2D plane where our designers were reliant on sketches, storyboards, and physical models to communicate what the project would look like. I recall lugging a model on an airplane as we travelled the globe to have a meeting with our client,” he shares.

“We travelled with extra material and lots of glue to repair the damage from the trip. In those days, FORREC was pioneering and exploring ways to digitally visualize in model form through the computer. It was rudimentary and labour-intensive.”

Added dimension

Times have changed, however, and today there’s access to an amazing variety of tools that allow FORREC’s design team to communicate three-dimensionally, with VR being just one such tool.

“We use it to allow our clients to virtually experience the design for an overall feel of the environment,” Heit says, and while there are issues with hardware and accessibility for all to engage virtually, other 3D tools are currently more conducive to sharing across an enterprise to provide ongoing visualization, coordination, and interface review of a project.

“No doubt as software and hardware evolve, I could see more effective use of AR and the metaverse as two additional avenues for visualizing design.”

Aiming for sustainability

While FORREC is a leader in sustainable design within the industry, the location-based entertainment industry itself has some catching up to do, says Heit.

“Sharing about our industry first, I strongly believe that leading with a purpose and corporate social responsibility (CSR) whether you are an operator, brand, developer, or vendor is critical to our success for our people, our business, and for our planet,” he says. “Whether we are trying to attract guests, build brand loyalty, lease or purchase property, or employ the best talent, CSR is at the top of initiatives as a corporation.”

To that end, FORREC created a sustainable task force more than five years ago to make a difference in the office, community, industry, and projects. Starting at grassroots, the company knows its team cares strongly about the environment and the impact of their actions and what they design on the planet. FORREC set a benchmark of following the UN Sustainable Development Goals and of the 17, narrowed them down to just those that they could “really influence in our daily practice.”

That means not only talking the talk, but walking the walk, or riding the bike. “We encourage active transportation and even have a customized FORREC office bike for loan to anyone who needs it,” Heit says. “Our new hybrid work policy has also had a significant impact on reducing the CO2 emissions by allowing individuals to work remotely and not having to commute to the office.”

Additionally, during the challenging times of the pandemic, FORREC’s wellness program was vital in allowing employees to disconnect while providing a physical and mental break.

“This year we are super-focused on implementing even more sustainable measures on our projects,” Heit says. “We have been quite good at incorporating measures in the past, however, globally this can be challenging with different standards and viewpoints on the value versus costs. We all need to get behind sustainability and FORREC believes we can make the greatest impact through our projects no matter where in the world.”

Always evolving

Whether it’s LEGOLAND Korea or the Niagara Parks Power Station, FORREC’s aspirational elements can be seen globally, reflecting ideals that go back to the company’s foundation.

“To stay relevant in the ever-evolving experience-design industry we must be nimble to better serve our clients to create repeatable and memorable experiences that make guests happy,” Heit says. “To do so we must remain true to who we are as a creative team and the values we have as a team. As a trusted partner to many of our clients, they rely on us to continue to provide the creativity and industry know-how they expect.”

But to deliver this in this highly competitive and changing world means offering even more services, whether through a highly creative internal team or with industry-leading partners. “As a lead consultant on many of our projects, we perform as design managers ensuring that our clients receive the best value and the most amazing experiences,” adds Heit.

In the case of LEGOLAND Korea Resort and the ongoing development of their resort projects globally, FORREC continues to provide a full-service offering for the entire development from programming, master planning, and creative design through to detail design for the majority of the project elements.

“We collaborate well with the client’s development and creative team to develop engaging experiences,” Heit says. “Our cross-sector approach allows us to not only deliver our industry-leading expertise for theme parks, attractions, and water parks, but we are also able to provide full services in hospitality and mixed-use development such as a retail dining and entertainment precinct for two of the projects.”

This also means providing a full spectrum of services from design management, planning, architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, and graphic design services to lighting, audiovisual, mechanical, electrical plumbing, kitchen design and others through FORREC’s trusted partners.

Niagara Parks is another impressive project that utilized FORREC’s creative vision to transform the defunct Niagara Power Station into an attraction focused on guest experience, heritage, inclusiveness, and sustainability. Working with the team at Niagara Parks, FORREC proposed a phased strategy to repurpose the existing infrastructure into a one-of-a-kind tourist destination at the heart of the falls.

FORREC’s experienced team also collaborated with the client to audit the facilities, recommend the strategy for implementation, and program and plan for the revitalization of this landmark. Since the completion of this scope, Niagara Parks has rolled out several “must-see” experiences, says Heit.

From challenge to achievement

Along with its numerous successes, the company has experienced its share of challenges, including the ongoing effects of the pandemic.

“The pandemic impacted globally on the hospitality industry of which we’re a strong part,” Heit says. This impact has included restrictions and complications in global travel, the challenges of talent availability—especially in this particular market—and the overall increasing cost of business with regard to people, global travel, and the usual costs of doing business. “In a highly competitive world, all these issues have made it challenging.”

The company’s accomplishments have been numerous, however, with FORREC overcoming so many major challenges over the past few years.

“One example is that we continue to service our clients with the same level of creativity, quality and collaboration while working in our new hybrid work model,” says Heit. “As a global company, even before the pandemic, we had a tremendous amount of experience working remotely away from our clients and sometimes with our team away from home and on the road.”

While the pandemic forced FORREC to effectively step up the flexibility of its working methods to the next level in just a few weeks, the transition was “almost seamless,” Heit adds, which isn’t unusual for a company that prides itself on developing and maintaining elevated creativity, and has gained hard-won and unparalleled experience.

Whether it’s continuing to build and support unprecedented relationships or exceptional talent, FORREC looks to deliver its vision around the world for years to come, says Heit. “We continue to utilize this model to effectively service our clients, improve our employee experience and carry out our business more sustainably.”

The post Harnessing Imagination<p class="company">FORREC</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.