Cultural Tourism - A Place-Based Approach, Mar 30-Apr 4

How Your Community can Capitalize on its Arts, Heritage, Culinary, and Natural History Attractions

For the past decade, the growth of cultural tourism has challenged cities and regions to capitalize on their cultural and heritage assets. Once regarded as a niche market, cultural tourism has emerged as a major market segment and a significant motivator for travel. 

"Cultural Tourism: A Place Based Approach" explores how to make the most of the fast-growing market for cultural tourism. Whether you manage or market a museum, gallery, festival, heritage attraction or other cultural experience, or work for an economic development agency or destination marketing organization, this course offers marketing tools and development strategies that will help you succeed. Special emphasis will be placed on the theory and practice of "place-based" cultural tourism in the context of destination planning.

In this course you will develop your ability to: 

• Understand the rise of cultural tourism as a market segment
• Think critically about what cultural tourism is, and what it is not
• Identify key factors that make cultural tourism experiences exportable
• Appreciate the role of “place” in conceiving a cultural tourism initiative
• Weigh the advantages of a place-based approach to cultural tourism vs. attractions-based approaches
• Understand key principles in site interpretation and place interpretation
• Understand key principles of cultural tourism marketing
• Consider issues of cultural authenticity, integrity, and preservation
• Build community support for cultural tourism initiatives 
• Plan a cultural tourism initiative

Instructor

Steven Thorne has worked in Canada’s cultural sector for 35 years as a cultural educator, manager, and consultant. For the past decade, he has specialized in planning and developing cultural tourism destinations. Steven’s clients have included Tourism BC, Tourism PEI, Ontario’s Ministry of Tourism, Parks Canada, and Canadian cities, towns, and institutions from British Columbia to Newfoundland. Most recently, he authored A Tapestry of Place: Whistler's Cultural Tourism Development Strategy, designed to help North America's pre-eminent ski destination diversify its tourism offering through cultural tourism. Steven helps cities, towns, and regions to realize their potential for cultural tourism by using his company’s holistic, “place-based” planning approach. The approach weaves together heritage, arts, culinary, agritourism, and natural history experiences to form a “cultural tapestry” that reveals a destination’s unique cultural terroir and sense of place. A regular guest lecturer in the Graduate Program in Tourism Policy and Planning at the University of Waterloo, Steven works independently and in association with Edinburgh-based TEAM Tourism Consulting.  He holds a master's degree in Leisure Studies, specializing in cultural development.

Registration Deadline: March 2, 2015, late registrations accepted if space permits.

Fee: CAD $642.97 (Canadian funds, credit and non-credit participation options). Full tuition due upon registration including the CAD$100 tuition deposit. The tuition balance of CAD$542.97 is due on or before the first day of the course. Please refer to our registration and withdrawal policies.