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If you are familiar with Baby Boomer, Gen X, Y and Z, then it's time to get ready for thinking about the influence the Alpha Generation has on travel. Born after 2010, the year in which Instagram and the iPad debuted, this tech-powered generation is set to become the most formally educated, wealthiest and long-living generation. In a free report released by the Expedia Group useful information is shared based on research conducted in Australia, Brazil,Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the UK and the US. A few insights to note: - Families with Alpha children are taking more than three trips per year - Domestic travel accounts for 68% of location choices, with an average stay of 6.9 days - Entertainment is the top motivator, followed by finding a great deal and visiting the outdoors - Experiences top expense in choosing activities - Finding activities the entire family enjoys tops the list for decision making - Hotels are the preferred accommodation - Theme parks, water activities and outdoor activities are the most popular, museums, guided tours and educational activities the least - Family travel decisions are influenced by many factors including: Travel site reviews and OTAs (63%), family and friends (46%), search engines (46%), young children (43%), social media (35%), online videos (28%) and online advertising (22%). Check out the report!

There’s nothing that will ruin a great bike ride like an unexpected problem requiring repair. On my recent trip to Emilia-Romagna in Italy, I met road cycling enthusiast, Hotel Belvedere tour guide and entrepreneur, Filippo Grandicelli, who leads hundreds of guests around the region. Necessity is the mother of invention especially when you have mechanical problems when you’re a cyclist and a cycling tour guide. Filippo has been working on an innovative solution to help cyclists and improve the independent cycling experience in the region. Over the past two years, he’s been developing bikepointsos, a network of cycling-friendly businesses where riders can find the help they may need along the way, at any time of the day. Coffee shops, cafes and bars are plentiful in Italy and are an important part of the Italian cycling experience. Unlike many other storefront businesses in Italy, they are open continuously throughout the day, from early morning until late evening, making them a great place for cyclists to stop anytime of the day. Bikepointsos businesses welcome cyclists and agree to provide a consistent array of services including a full set of tools to repair Campagnolo and Shimano components, a floor pump, inner tubes, CO2 cartridges, etc. and a bike-friendly spot for a refreshment and water bottle refill! An interactive map allows riders to identify bikepointsos locations and plan their route knowing that these services will be available along the way. Currently there are 126 bikepointsos locations currently in Emilia-Romagna and other parts of Italy. Filippo is continuing to expand and extend the network throughout Italy and beyond. Imagine the possibilities for independent cycling with a worldwide network of bikepoints in all your favourite road riding destinations! Other Links: https://www.bikepointsos.it/en https://www.facebook.com/Bikepointsos/ https://www.instagram.com/bikepointsos/

As the popularity of e-bikes, cycling, mountain biking and trail development continue to grow and increase opportunities for visitors and citizens alike, new policies are helping guide appropriate behavior. In a post on bicycling.com they report "Electric bike sales jumped by an incredible 91 percent from 2016 to 2017 alone, according to the market research firm NPD Group. It’s a $77.1 million industry, and there’s no sign of a slowdown. Last year, e-bike sales even surpassed traditional bike sales in the Netherlands. In speaking with one of the owners of the Comox Bike Company on Vancouver Island he confirms the sales of e-bikes is far exceeding their ability to stock them! In following several cycling blogs, this new voice is present and e-bikes are opening a new world of opportunity. And, while on a recent cycle holiday in Belgium the e-bike ride sharing was being expanded significantly in Brussels. E-bikes are here to stay so hats off to the British Columbia Recreation, Sites & Trails department for taking the proactive step in releasing a new policy defining the types of e-bikes, their use of various types of trails in our province. If you are a land owner, recreational site manager, or e-cyclist - it is definitely worth reading. If you are looking for information in other provinces, check out: https://ebikebc.com/electric-bike-regulations-in-canada/ I'm personally not ready to give up pedaling yet but when the time comes, fantastic!.

The interest in creating memorable experiences with food for travellers continues to rise. Some refer to this opportunity as food tourism, culinary tourism, or gastronomy tourism but they are all targeting the same. "The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in their free, newly released 43-page guidelines, defines gastronomy tourism as “a type of tourism activity which is characterized by the visitor’s experience linked with food and related products and activities while travelling. Along with authentic, traditional, and/or innovative culinary experiences, Gastronomy Tourism may also involve other related activities such as visiting the local producers, participating in food festivals and attending cooking classes." The need to eat is essential, but how and what people want to eat, connect with local foods and culture is the differentiator for tourism businesses, food and beverage providers. These new guidelines provide strategic destination development insights around the four pillars for growing this type of tourism: 1. The tourism development model for the destination?. British Columbia's Wine Institute produced a Wine-Food strategy for the province 2. The territorial strategy. These are often tucked into destination development plans as one tactic such as in Prince Edward County in Ontario 3. The competitive strategy. Destination Cape Breton, in Nova Scotia has produced a Culinary Road Map 4. Basic strategies for product, market development and positioning. For example, Alberta has produced a culinary handbook for industry and the Gros Morne Institute for Sustainable Tourism has a Chef in Residence Program. However a destination tackles uniting stakeholders to promote their culinary delights, this report highlights six necessary ingredients: Integration and cooperation between the sectors that support the value chain. Generating mutually beneficial relationships and balance. Aligning the interests and coordinating the benefits of a shared project. Sharing common principles of planning, decision making and ways to achieve consensus. Instituional capacity. Participation of the local community. Examples of success abound including Jeff Bray, responsible for the award winning Cultivate Festival in Ontario.

Whether you agree with legalization or not, companies across Canada are exploring the potential for cannabis tourism. While the outlook for Canada’s cannabis tourism industry is still uncertain, and sure to evolve as the laws related to the promotion and consumption of marijuana are introduced, expect to see significant evolutions and new opportunities for tourism businesses to innovate and bring cannabis tourism into the tourism experience[1]. Exact figures for the size of the cannabis tourism market are challenging to find. The Colorado State government estimates 6.5 million out-of-state marijuana visitors came in 2016 and expected a 6% increase in 2017[2]. Cannabis tourism is estimated to have grown 51% since legalization[3]. With figures like these, we are likely to see cannabis tourism in Canada evolve into a major market segment. New cannabis tourism companies are popping up in the market offering a variety of experiences for visitors to explore, enjoy and learn about marijuana. Tourism Café spoke with Kennan Hall, owner and founder of The Movement Cannabis Tours in Vancouver, who indicated that BC’s connection to the cannabis industry makes it a natural destination for cannabis tourism and that Vancouver can be a major contender internationally amongst other hot cannabis destinations such as Amsterdam and Colorado. Kennan says the potential for this new segment in tourism is huge, but it’s still early days. Current legislation in Canada is restrictive and limits the ability of companies to do promotion, making it challenging to get the word out. And the negative stigma of cannabis is a hurdle for consumer perceptions. Regardless of current barriers in the operating environment, cannabis tourism is poised to grow. Visitor experiences are already available in cities throughout Canada. Canada High Tours offers experiences on learning to roll the perfect joint, growing your own cannabis plants, painting on pot or visiting the local greenhouse growing ops and dispensaries. Canadian Kush Tours is offering a new slant on the traditional wedding open bar with their Cannabis Wedding Bar and if you’re looking for a new bachelorette idea, why not try their Cannabis Cooking Class or Cannabis Spa day. The options are likely to be endless and these visitor experiences are bound to leave you on a ‘high’ note! [1] Johansen, P. (2018, Nov. 29). Canada’s tourism can capitalize on cannabis. Retrieved from https://www.eturbonews.com/239148/canadas-tourism-can-capitalize-on-cannabis [2] Marijuana Policy Group & Leeds University (2018). Market size and demand for marijuana in Colorado. 2017 market update. Retrieved from https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/MED%20Demand%20and%20Market%20%20Study%20%20082018.pdf [3] Kovacevich, N. (2018, Aug. 16). The next big thing in cannabis: tourism. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickkovacevich/2018/08/16/the-next-big-thing-in-cannabis-tourism/#265e564e5d9b

The Adventure Travel Trade Association’s 2018 report on 20 Adventure Trends to Watch indicated that solo travel was a trend on the rise, and 2019 trend articles suggest this segment continues to evolve and grow. And while female solo travel has been the predominant focus, Trekksoft’s 2019 Travel Trends Report suggests that solo travel ‘has extended across all generations and to many destinations’. Canada’s most recent census results show that single-person households are more common than ever. Statistics support the evolution and growth of this segment and there are opportunities for experience design focused on attracting this target this market. Many of the large tour operators worldwide have recognized this trend and are offering a variety of options to accommodate and support solo travellers. Transat Vacations for example, was recognized for offering the best all-inclusive vacation packages at the 2017 Solo Travel Awards and Adventure Canada won the 2018 World Nomads Solo Traveler Choice Award. Both companies offer opportunities for solo travellers to skip the single supplements, setting aside a certain amount of inventory to entice this growing traveller segment and support solo travel through activities, communal dining opportunities and more. Companies such as Trafalgar Tours and Backroads offer specific departures designed for solo travellers. Larger tour companies looking to entice the solo travel market often provide discounts on single supplements or offer to match solo travellers with another person to avoid the single supplement and make a new friend. Other companies such as Encounter Travel specialize in the solo market! Even hotels are recognizing the trend. Aviva, a 4-star wellness hotel in Austria, has positioned itself as a singles-only vacation destination, where vacations are designed to help you meet new people, make new friends, be healthy and active in the outdoors and enjoy great food. The daily ‘make friends program’ offers a staggering number of activities so you can be as active and engaged or relaxed as you desire.

Tourism businesses often ask how they can work with their destination marketing/management organization (DMO) to take advantage of the services these organizations provide. Reading recent stakeholder newsletters from DMOs across Canada it struck me that the time has never been better to leverage the numerous programs that are currently offered. DMOs are delivering a wide array of innovative programs to support industry, product and business development. Here are just a few examples of the array of training opportunities and tools available, many of which the Tourism Cafe has been involved in developing and delivering. To find out more about what’s available in your area, visit your community, regional and/or provincial DMO’s website. Travel Alberta is offering its fifth, four day SHiFT - transforming products into experiences program in Sylvan Lake from March 21-24, 2019. While this year’s program is full, it’s offered annually by Travel Alberta. This program immerses participants in experiential learning opportunities to build capacity for experience development, with post-course support from the local DMO and Travel Alberta industry development team. Offerings of Travel Alberta’s new one-day Experience Essentials workshop occurred in January in the Crowsnest Pass and Canmore in February and will continue to be offered throughout the year. Tourism Excellence North in Ontario offers an array of self-assessment tools, case studies and group learning opportunities for tourism businesses, including case studies, experiential travel training workshops offered, self-assessment tools, best practice missions and individual business assessment and coaching through the Fast Track to Success program. RTO8 in Ontario offers experience development opportunities through its partnership with Northern Edge Algonquin and the IGNITE experiential training program. The IGNITE training experience focuses on working with operators to commit to actions, enhancing collaboration between attendees and hands-on experience development over 3 days of learning, networking in off-the-grid splendour. Destination British Columbia recently launched its new learning centre which houses a wide variety of resources for industry on digital marketing, social media, experience development, travel trade and travel media, as well as emergency preparedness and leveraging the Super, Natural British Columbia® brand. The Gros Morne Institute for Sustainable Travel (GMIST) will be offering its 42nd, well-known and nationally respected Edge of the Wedge experiential travel training program April 8 - 11, 2019. The Edge of the Wedge is an immersive, hands-on opportunity that helps tourism operators explore opportunities to increase revenue potential, competitive market position, new tourism experiences and long lasting community partnerships. Photos: Mine and Dine Experience, SHiFT Drumheller 2017, Credit: Travel Alberta Fort William Historic Site, TEN Experiential Travel Training, Thunder Bay, 2018

Wellness tourism is travel associated with the pursuit of maintaining or enhancing one's well-being and can include healthy living, rejuvenation and relaxation, meaning and connection, authentic experiences, as well as disease prevention and management. Representing a $4.2 trillion (USD) market in 2017, according to the Global Wellness Institute, the wellness economy grew 12.8% between 2015-2017[1]. As the population ages, our lives become increasingly hectic, stress from our modern lifestyle is inescapable, and we see a growing incidence of disease, wellness tourism is a way to bring a level of balance and well-being into our lives. Wellness tourism is an opportunity that tourism businesses can leverage by incorporating wellness into experience design. Wellness goes beyond yoga and meditation retreats and is more than just physical exercise or nutrition. It can integrate seven different dimensions: social, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, physical, environmental and occupational[2]. This provides tourism operators with a wide variety of ways that wellness can be incorporated into a visitor experience. For operators looking to take advantage of this growing sector, the Wellness Tourism Association is an excellent place to start. The organization was created to provide a voice for the industry and shape its future. Prominent tour operators such as G Adventures have stepped into the wellness tourism market in a big way creating a variety of wellness tours that ‘offer the perfect balance of awe-inspiring destinations, rejuvenating activities and healthy foot experiences.' However, wellness isn't just for the big guns. Many small businesses have grown successfully around wellness, or by integrating wellness as part of what they do. The award-winning Grail Springs in Ontario is built on an ‘unwavering devotion to personal growth and planetary transformation’ through ‘an integrative approach to healing mind, body and spirit.' Northern Edge Algonquin has built its business around wellness and a driving mission ‘to provide experiences in nature that help us rediscover ourselves, empower one another, and heal our connection to the earth.' Cassiar Cannery in northern British Columbia extended its traditional peak season by offering Women’s Retreats that combine outdoor cultural activities, with healthy food, learning workshops and spa treatments in a fun, relaxed and tranquil environment. With the breadth of the wellness sector and all it encompasses, opportunity abounds for tourism businesses that want to leverage this growing segment. What might you be able to do to enhance the wellness aspects of your existing offers, or where might new experience opportunities lie for your business to attract a different traveller type? [1] Global Wellness Institute. (2018, Oct). Wellness now a $4.2 trillion global industry: with 12.8% growth 2015-2017. Retrieved from: https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/press-room/press-releases/wellness-now-a-4-2-trillion-global-industry/ [2] University of California, Riverside. (2014). Seven dimensions of wellness. Retrieved from https://wellness.ucr.edu/seven_dimensions.html

Another industry icon moves on! This has been a big year ! I thought I'd share three of my favourites!! First it was Newfoundland's Stan Cook Sea Kayaking Adventures (http://www.stancook.ca/) who closed their family business after nearly 30 years. An industry icon, Stan not only operated an award-winning company, he served the tourism industry in so many ways including the Chair of TIAC - no small feat for a small business! And while the loss of their company for visitors to the St. John's area will be missed incredibly, Stan found a new challenge as the Manager for the Torngats Basecamp in Labradorand remains the chair of the Gros Morne Institute for Sustainable Tourism and a board member with Destination Canada. He remains with our industry! I've known Stan for almost 20 years and love his sense of humour, his realism, and respect his tourism talents immensely 2018 saw Destination Canada's longest standing employee Frank Verschuren retire. Frank was well known to anyone on the product and experience development side of our industry. Remember the product development club? That was Frank! He, along with Lesley Anderson of the Tourism Cafe, was one of the creators of, and managed the Canadian Signature Experiences. A 36-year veteran of the organization, Frank's deep connections and caring for tourism operator will be hard to replicate in today's employment world. So, while it's hard to imagine a future with this freshly minted retiree - you never know when the right gig will call him back to share his expertise on a project or two within the tourism industry. Frank was one of the first people I met when I joined the tourism industry in the late 90s. He's been a friend, mentor and someone I would always turn to at the national level to provide sage advice into our training for small and rural businesses wanting to excel on the national stage. And this week, Mary Tulle, CEO of Destination Cape Breton has announced she is leaving her position after nine years of incredible leadership and a career in tourism. I can't even remember when I met Mary, for sure well over a decade ago for sure! She oozes creatively, understands the industry, has a passion for everyone in her destination and Nova Scotia. Always a friendly voice to reach out to, she has shared her sage advice on many occasions to enrich our training to help others succeed. It's hard to imagine CBDA without her ... but I'm betting this is not the end, just a shift to a new chapter - stay tuned. As these announcements begin, and I think of the many icons in their 50s and 60s, it is a reminder that we have to learn as much as we can from those in leadership positions, people who inspire our industry. We are fortunate, how each in their own way, have contributed to Canada's tourism success and helped set the stage for people from around the world to discover and enjoy Canada. As these icons begin to pen new chapters in their career - I personally want to say thank you, to each of you, for everything you have done 'to date'. Thank you for the positive influence you've had on me and our activities at the Tourism Cafe. Keep on smiling, keep on enjoying life - it's what I love most about all three of you.

Sometimes it's hard to know where to begin. But as we approach the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, we wanted to pause and say how thankful we are for: - the amazing tourism businesses, destination management/marketing organizations and government colleagues we get to work with every day; - our clients who are committed to leading the charge for innovative tourism development; - the wide range of tourism professionals, in all sectors, that enroll in our courses across Canada and want to raise the bar on the visitor experience while increasing the competitive appeal of their destination, province, Canada and abroad for our international clients; - the passionate tourism operators who engage in our coaching processes to create new, purchasable visitor experiences then share them in our training to inspire others; - our amazing business partners who never cease to amaze us on their ability to help make what we do better; - the companies that allow us to track their progress, year-after-year so their product development learning may be shared in vignettes and case studies to help inspire others in our industry; - the individuals who challenge our thinking so we continue to think more deeply about the evolutions in our industry so we can remain current and at the fore of where the tourism industry is going so this informs our destination development and training activities; and - the government sponsors who invest in their industry and make affordable training available to tourism businesses. On behalf of myself, Lesley, Paul and Todd - thank you, Happy Thanksgiving.

Today is Customer Experience Day - did you even know there is a day to stop and celebrate the excellence you strive for in enhancing the customer experience within your company and with your customers. We do, because our focus on the visitor experience in tourism keeps us researching, learning, teaching, and coaching. When I look back at the thousands of tourism businesses - private and not for profit - plus government entities with a mandate for tourism that we have trained, I have to smile. In 2000 I was introduced to the Experience Economy, a new way of thinking thanks to the conceptual talents on Joe Pine and James Gilmore. A couple of years later I participated in their training program and since then, with industry and academe, the importance of the customer experience has been core to how the Tourism Cafe approaches tourism training and destination development. We have learned so much over the past two decades but here are a few biggies that we learned over early two decades: 1. A focus on the customer experience is not a trend, it is a choice you need to make for your business. 2. Creating a visitor-centric culture within tourism requires effort and embracing new ways of thinking. We have developed our industry on a service culture which is terrific; it is the foundation for our industry Taking our potential to the next level to focus on the entire customer journey requires different skills, a different way of thinking. 3. Tourism operators that embrace the visitor experience, as a core way of doing business, are seeming some amazing results that go beyond the financial bottom line. We look at the annual awards across our country and smile with pride when we see companies who have participated in our training winning awards. It's even more rewarding when we interview them and learn about the trigger moment when they understood the potential. 4. Destination management organizations are beginning to look holistically at the 'experience' of their region and how to use this as a differentiator to raise the bar for stakeholders and travellers. 5.There are different business development considerations before, during and after a person travels, opportunities to impact the visitor experience directly and indirectly. The role of partnerships is key. 6. Addressing the emotional and physical connections throughout all touchpoints of a travellers journey is imperative. The realities of social media place a huge focus on the online experience, which is a vital component. However, all the marketing in the world won't increase your bottom line if it doesn't generate a sale, respond to today's travellers needs and begin to cultivate tomorrow's customer base. Designing memorable visitor experiences that requires we start with different questions: i. How can we create a memorable experience for our guests? ii. What memories do we want them to take away? Share via social media? iii. Who can we partner with that will enhance the experience, increase the authenticity and emotional connections? iv. What stories can we share that will connect travellers uniquely to our business, our town, our stories? v. How can we weave 'activities' into a seamless experience that brings a traveller into our world and has them leave with a greater appreciation of the people and places they are visiting? vi. How can we set the stage for simple, engaging interactions that allow time to personalize the experience while ensuring operational efficiencies? vii. What is the role of technology to complement the visitor experience? viii. What new measures of success are needed to validate and justify the investing in the customer experience, the visitor experience? As we celebrate Customer Experience Day, our team at the Tourism Cafe is proud to have been part of this journey over the past two decades as operators and educators.

Congratulations to Jamaican Tourism Ministry for their decision to restructure elements of their operations to better support the demands of tomorrow's travellers. While their success to date has been built on mass market and large investment in infrastructure type tourism operations, the new structure and direction recognizes and will offer increased support to small and medium sized business offering travel opportunities for guest that want to experience Jamaica, but on a more intimate, smaller scale. Marketing will become more streamlined and integrated with the new powerful channels such as Google and AirBnB to extend their reach worldwide. A quick search of Jamaica on AirBnB revealed 300+ properties ranging in price from $39 to $2500 USD per night - now that's selection and a variety of traveller types! VROB is currently offering houses for $50 - 950 USD per night. This is excellent news. Two years ago when we were working in Treasure Beach supporting their tourism product development, community tourism and experiential travel initiatives, the Ministry had already recognized this need and was working with the Inter-American Development Bank and their Compete Caribbean initiative to support rural tourism business and destination development. Just a short drive from Montego Bay you find another world - one filled with local gems and small businesses that take you into the heart of the Jamaican culture, it's the antithesis of mass market tourism and simply 'amazing'. The people you meet, the businesses that offer local, authentic, intimate travel touch your heart and the opportunity, in my opinion to learn about the destination, its culture and people is unparalleled.