ECHO is a Leader in Tourism Collaboration
Tourism
In February of 2023 the ECHO board was approached to support the Tourism Opportunity Session, put on by Hospitality NL, Legendary Coasts of Eastern Newfoundland, and Tourism Culture Arts and Recreation (TCAR). This two day event, which was held in May in Trepassey, eventually led to "The Visitor's Journey" and a partnership with
the Community Sector of Newfoundland and Labrador to "Tap the Untapped Potential" for the Irish Loop
Tourism Opportunity Session
Irish Loop
ECHO helped engage the regional stakeholders and took the lead to plan the The Tourism Opportunity Session, which included two days of events, for our government and community partners that was sponsored with the support of Industry, Education, and Technology (IET), Community Capacity Building grant.
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After the successful event in Trepassey, ECHOs Program Coordinator, Genevieve McCorquodale, took the initiative to reach out to the Department of Tourism Culture Arts and Recreation to seek out what the next steps would be for the region.
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This is where The Visitor Journey project began.
The Visitor's Journey
This regional tourism development initiative involved 16 representatives from government and non-profit partners that worked together to identify the opportunities and gaps in support of tourism on the Irish Loop. This was only the third time a project such as this had been done in the province.
ECHO took the lead to organize and plan the two-day one-night tour of the Irish Loop for the participants by connecting regional stakeholders, planning the logistics, with the support of her government partners.
Post journey, the partners gathered the data, with the eventual delivery of the draft report to the regional stakeholders in December of 2023 in Trepassey. We received community feedback and took note of their suggestions which was fed into the final report, that was delivered in February of 2024.
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Since engaging in this regional work, it has helped the organization grow its scope, and to establish solid
partnerships to develop the tourism product for not only the Southern Avalon, but the whole of the Irish Loop.
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There is currently a group of like minded stakeholders that have formed the Irish Loop Tourism Working Group, of which Genevieve has been organizing meetings with to ensure the opportunities and gaps identified in the report get enacted.
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With all of this reginal work done in 2023, the Community Sector Council knew that they had to step up to support the work that ECHO had been doing to create excitement and hope in the region. So in 2024 they did just that by supporting us to "Tap our Untapped Potential" with several online and in person sessions.
Tapping the
Untapped Potential
The objective of this collaboration between the Community Sector Council of NL and ECHO, was to build capacity for volunteers & staff retention, as well as to examine how we can attract more engagement from our citizens in the Irish Loop region of Newfoundland and Labrador.
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Our program coordinator designed, marketed, and drew in partners for both the online and in person events that were held in the region.
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The networking session “Many Hands Make Light Work,” held at The Wilds Resort, was well attended from a wide variety of community leaders from across the Irish Loop.
Genevieve had the participants engage with some of the tools she's been learning through the ACTivate program such as "Know, Teach, Learn" and "Know your Super Power" to show participants that we all have skills to offer our communities, and it's our job to help others see their potential too.
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See a way we could work together?
Reach out today. We’d love to chat!