Experiential Travel-a sustainable tourism model.

I recently attended a workshop on “Experiential Travel Product Development,” put on by TIANS for Nova Scotia’s travel industry.

With Nancy Arsenault and Celes Davar, as the facilitators, it was no surprise to find how the concept of “experiential” was taken to be the fulcrum of the workshop: “I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.”

What amazed me was just how experiential the workshop turned out to be with Dave Carroll’s performance of “Now,” from his new album “Perfect Blue,” followed by an opportunity for all the participants to engage in an unforgettable experience to learn a segment of the music to “DRUM:” The workshop participants were divided into groups, each group being led through a practice of black African drumming, Micmac drumming and singing, and Acadian style wooden spoon playing. Finally the entire ensemble was put together and a surprisingly good rendition of part of “DRUM” re-created.

The initial trepidation on Brookes Diamond’s face, artistic director of “DRUM,”  gave way to delightfully good humoured smiles as the distinctive rhythms of early settlers’, blacks, Acadian and Micmac music blended in an awesome recreation of the show’s music.

As I drove the three hour journey home from Truro to Canso, I reflected on the highly unusual approach to the workshop taken by  Celes Davar and Nancy Arsenault. They had taken all of us through an experiential  journey of some of Nova Scotia’s best musical heritage and cuisine, while at the same time crafting the workshop as a “learning” experience.

Surprised as I was to hear from Glen Squires’ own lips that as CEO of Pacrim Hospitality Services, (which includes the Canada wide chain of Holiday Inns), he faces the same challenges as I experience as a small bed and breakfast operator, specifically the short summer season that runs from the second week in July to the third week in August and then from the second week in September until the Celtic colours festival: It was almost comforting at one level to know that tourism operators right across the board are seeking new opportunities to find ways to develop new business propositions.

Providing opportunities for experiential travel is a way for operators to enter into a new sustainable tourism model. Sensitive to the psychographics of the traveller, travel experiences are provided to highly targeted niche markets. The emphasis is on providing inherently personal and memorable travel experiences which engage all of the senses; touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight, and allow the visitor to “feel” a connection on an emotional, physical, spiritual or intellectual level. The visitor is engaged in a way that they “feel” as if they have stepped behind the scenes, discovered the authentic stories and interacted with the local communities.

As the owner/operator of a bed and breakfast I can relate to almost everything that I heard at the workshop: There is something inherently experiential about many bed and breakfasts which guests seek out! There is however a new challenge to meet for small tourism businesses as the market is driven by a highly sophisticated and well informed consumer base. From the nine different potential “Explorer Quotients” or EQ’s,( http://www.canada.travel/eq ) today’s visitor has a specificity for interests and style of travel, ranging from the “No-Hassle traveller” to the “Free Spirit,” the “cultural explorer,” and the “authentic experiencer.” The small operator now needs to partner with other businesses and people in the community as do the larger tourism operators to satisfy the requirements of these new demands, particularly those coming from the “X” and “Y” generations.

The new experiential travel business model becomes especially interesting for rural communities in Nova Scotia. Rural communities who have suffered the loss of vibrant economies often still have a wealth of traditional skills, arts, music and ways of knowing that have not previously been tapped into on an economic scale. There is now the growing opportunity for small rural communities to market this knowledge base within a sustainable tourism framework.