Geotourism Challenge Finalist: Re-inventing a geotourism destination in Nova Scotia, Canada
Monday, 01 Sep, 2009
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Trout Point embodies sense of place and creates a destination experience for visitors in a way that supports and promotes the unrecognized natural, social, and cultural riches of the Tobeatic Wilderness Area and the Southern Nova Scotia Biosphere Reserve. By not promoting coastal tourism (the mantra of official tourism policies) and being en "eco-lodge" in a northern, developed country, Trout Point challenges some common preconceptions about what a geotourism destination is or can be. Trout Point currently consists of: 8-room Great Lodge including restaurant, 8 stone fireplaces, teaching kitchen, and public areas, 3-room bed & breakfast, 2 cottages, 100 acres of Acadian Forest & river frontage; facilities include: canoes, kayaks, wood-fired hot tub, nature guides, boardwalks, on-site trails, adjacent hiking trails, mountain bikes, small spa, fire pit, GPS units for self-guided excursions, cooking classes & culinary vacations, on-site organic vegetable, herb, and flower gardens fed by gray water system.
Over the past 10 years, Trout Point has innovated by re-vitalizing backwoods & nature tourism, culinary tourism, and Acadian French cultural tourism in Nova Scotia. Once a major nature tourism destination in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, by the 1990s, Yarmouth County and surrounding areas had fallen on hard times, offering conventional motel & hotel experiences disconnected from the region’s inherent resources. In a small way, Trout Point reversed this trend starting in 2000 by once again promoting the idea that something beyond beaches and seafaring culture might be of interest to travelers. While a regional tourism crisis developed for local accommodations in the mid to late 2000s, Trout Point has prospered based on geotourism
These include: low-cost marketing using the Internet as a primary vehicle and restricting the use of print/paper resources; encouraging local memory of the area’s “great camp” and Acadian-cultural heritage; constantly striving to enhance & expand eco-friendly practices, and publicizing & formalizing these extensively; making Trout Point one with the local place, promoting the concept of destination rather than gateway; fully engaging with local tourism partners and encouraging guest use of tourism infrastructure located within .1 to 50 km from the Lodge; pioneering a perspective on the Tobeatic Wilderness Area and the Southern Nova Biosphere as having geotourism potential.
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