Earth Rhythms

09/19/2024

Actions being taken by cities to address overtourism, badly behaved visitors, and the impacts of large cruise ships.

"Valencia, Budapest and Athens are all putting in place new legislation to tackle overtourism and illegal short-term accommodation.

As the main tourist season winds down, cities are putting in place legislation to control overtourism and crack down on badly-behaved visitors alongside landlords who run illegal accommodation.

We face similar situations in many parts of urban and rural Canada. Tourism is need of change - it's not about attracting greater numbers of visitors or increasing revenues. Those are simply one set of metrics, and focusing on those metrics is what has got us into trouble. By abandoning or ignoring community values, traditions, the lack of municipal infrastructure, and driving tourism primarily as a marketing engine.

The investors in tourism have to be in our communities and local small businesses. The primary investors in tourism infrastructure have been mostly interested in large volumes, large events, large infrastructure (waterfront cruise dockings, arenas) and driving large volumes from major inbound cities to smaller rural areas where there is limited capacity (think Peggy's Cove, downtown Wolfville) for more bus or car traffic, where urban visitors drive too fast on backcountry roads designed for local traffic and farm machinery.

Tourism is about communities "owning the tourism strategy" not the marketers. And those tourism strategies are about how communities engage in a relationship with guests, to welcome them, let them know what we expect as appropriate behaviours, and provide them with meaningful opportunities to engage with the people who live in these communities (retailers, service providers, experience hosts, guides, and unique local storytellers, artists, and musicians).

When we as communities take back the responsibility for how tourism takes place in our communities, we then begin to work together. We work to make tourism a force for good, to have less waste in how we provide food and other services; we can have a local visitor levy (accommodation tax) that goes back to repairing wetlands and natural spaces and biodiversity and restoring the local ecosystem (regenerative) not just marketing; and we invite people to come for the right reasons, all through the year..not just summer time.

"Valencia in eastern Spain has announced its plans to cut off electricity and water for illegal tourist accommodation in the city.

The mayor, María José Catalá, believes that the providing of too much water and electricity to short-term lets has a serious impact on permanent residents.

Local media reported that she told the State of the City Debate the existence of tourist apartments “impacts the price of rents, displaces the population,… implies the gradual disappearance of local commerce in favour of shops for tourists, and implies an imbalance in public provisions” which favours tourists over locals.

Catalá appears to be taking the situation very seriously. On behalf of the city council, she has requested the power to sanction illegal tourist apartments, and impose fines of up to €600,000 on landlords who refuse to comply with the new laws.

Records show that, under Catalá, inspections of tourist apartments have increased by 454 per cent this year alone and that police activity against illegal tourist apartments has risen from 73 reports in 2022 to 449 so far in 2024. The closure of some 278 illegal residences has already been ordered this year."

09/16/2024

Via Gracen Chungath, Senior Vice President, Destination Stewardship for Destination Canada, about our collaborative Destination Dialogues Session last week. I love her assessment that the webinar and workshop ..."represent a significant leap forward in redefining how we approach sustainable tourism on a national scale."

She shared...
"Yesterday, the second iteration of the Destination Dialogues webinar and workshop introduced a simple, innovative approach to making regenerative tourism practices accessible across Canada. With over 480 attendees from coast to coast to coast, we delved into how non-traditional community hosts and storytellers are key to crafting unforgettable, authentic visitor experiences. This event represents a significant leap forward in redefining how we approach sustainable tourism on a national scale.

Sincere thanks to Jennifer Horsnell, CDME and Aurélie Viotto from Destination Canada for their leadership for shaping this work, and to the wonderful Celes Davar for guiding both sessions. We were privileged to hear from insightful speakers that are practitioners and coaches including Lourdes Still, David Schonberger, Magel Sutherland, Trevor Norris, and Joanne Wolnik, Ec. D., MBA. Their practical advice demonstrated how collaboration between communities and tourism professionals can create sustainable, meaningful experiences, leaving a lasting impression on our guests."

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

09/13/2024

Yesterday was a remarkable day. Destination Canada annually hosts a Destination Dialogues session to "inspire, inform and empower rural destination development professionals".

In collaboration with Lourdes Still (Masagana Flower Farm, MB), and David Schonberger (Ottercreek Woodworks, ON), we created and delivered a webinar about ReThinking Experience Development in Canada's Destinations. With 480 people attending, we shared perspectives, stories, examples, and insights.

In collaboration with Joanne Wolnik (ED from Ontario's Southwest), Magel Sutherland (Meewasin Valley Conservation Authority, Saskatoon), and Trevor Norris (Bay of Quinte Regional Marketing Board), we also delivered a separate workshop for destination managers to gain insights about how they might go about developing a destination wide approach to investing into regenerative visitor experience development.

Many thanks to Destination Canada, and to the collaborating presenters.

Back to Events Destination Dialogues Jump to section   Destination Dialogues is a virtual event designed to inspire, inform and empower rural destination development professionals. Following the success of the 2023 event, Destination Canada proudly presents the second edition, with a free 90-minute...

09/10/2024

Explore the world, without ruining it!

Travel can be life-changing, but there are hidden costs to our trips that go deeper than our pockets. Whether it’s impacts on the environment or the communities we visit, we all have the power to make a difference. Conscious decisions along our journeys can positively change the planet we share with all of our human and animal friends.

The Ethical Traveller offers one hundred tips, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, that help us protect the planet, support communities, and explore the world while preserving everything that makes it so very special.

Publisher: Smith Street Books
ISBN: 9781925811988
Number of pages: 108
Dimensions: 200 x 140 mm

Buy The Ethical Traveller by Imogen Lepere, Julia Murray from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.

09/08/2024

What’s on my mind?…I would like to see us ask a different question. Instead of asking how much tourism has grown (increase in revenues, increase in visitors) or not grown, we can ask a different question can shape a better approach to the visitor economy.

How have tourism activities helped our communities, businesses, local ecology, and our municipal infrastructure to thrive, so that we are demonstrating that our ability to put food on the table, take care of those who are marginalized, and the waters and soil we live beside are not harmed?

Tourism is not an industry. It’s not. Take that word out of our usage.

So, what is tourism? It’s a relationship in which communities (people, businesses) host and welcome visitors to come, stay, and enjoy the area. But, we need to ask them to be respectful and responsible, which means that we can and should tell them what that means in our community. Our hope is that through this relationship, in which visitors take part in community activities, buy goods and services, that they will be somehow “affected genuinely and positively” by their hosts. And in the process, give back to our community (help fund community projects, pay a levy, support local food producers, etc.), and go and share what they have learned with their own networks.

The goal of tourism is not to make money. It never has been. But, we lost our focus. That’s why regenerative and sustainable tourism is needed. And many travellers today are choosing to go to destinations that have changed the way that tourism is developed and provided. Tourism is not about marketing. It’s about a relationship. It always has been. Let’s get back to that. Tourism is not an economic driver; it is a contributor to a thriving economy.

Language and the narratives about how we do things is so important. I don’t want the good parts of tourism to continue to be co-opted by self-interested parties who only see tourism as another form of wealth generation.

It’s why I have been involved in the Foodartnature collective of Annapolis Valley visitor experiences. We are offering something that is attempting to reflect the above considerations.

Discover unique, practitioner-led experiences in the Annapolis Valley. Explore interests like foraging, gardening, cooking, art, and more in small, intimate groups. Enjoy hands-on activities, connect with like-minded people, and learn about local ecosystems and communities. Accessible and sustainabl...

09/04/2024

From: The Grapevine, paper for people who find themselves in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia.

‘AWAKENING' REGENERATIVE TOURISM IN THE ANNAPOLIS VALLEY’

The Valley Regional Enterprise Network
Nova Scotia's $2.6 billion tourism industry has been steadily recovering since the COVID-
Davar with Earth Rhythms, supported by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA).
19 pandemic. A significant sector for both the province and the Annapolis Valley, the needs of tourism businesses have changed dramatically alongside shifts in traveller motivations, expectations for a seamless travel experience, and a move towards responsible travel. Recently, the Annapolis Valley has led the way in this emerging approach to tourism by hosting an immersive three-day workshop designed to equip business development professionals from across Nova Scotia with the knowledge and skills needed to support their communities in offering legendary tourism experiences.

From July 9 to 11, the Annapolis Valley hosted an impactful conference titled Awaken
- The Secrets to Legendary Tourism. This event represented a key step in the region's tourism strategy and was developed through the collaboration of the Valley Regional Enterprise Network (Valley REN), the Nova Scotia Association of CBCs, and facilitated by Celes Davar with Earth Rhythms, supported by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA).

Held at Acadia University, Awaken was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the wonderful experiences being delivered in the Annapolis Valley. In collaboration with over 20 community businesses and experience hosts, including Benjamin Bridge Winery, Events Acadia Culinary Team, Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, Music in Communities, and the collective, participants received hands-on learning in experiential tourism, regenerative business, and regenerative tourism in practice. The conference also included memorable and important presentations on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging from Kings County representatives, as well as from the Mi'kmaq Rights Initiative about the new Mi'kmaq Cultural Tourism Strategy.

"The Awaken Conference was unique - it was the first time Ive ever been part of a conference where we were all learning inside of the teachings and being fully immersed in the experience. We weren’t just hearing about crafting guest experiences as part of experiential tourism; we were living them”, noted Stephanie Miller Vincent with S Miller vision representing South Shore Tourism Cooperative.

"It wasn't just about the knowledge I gained; it was about the connections I made and the shared experiences we had. I met new friends, reconnected with old ones, and felt the power of being in a space with 40-plus like-minded individuals. That kind of energy is rare, and it left me feeling incredibly optimistic about the future of tourism in Nova Scotia. What happened at Awaken is going to have a lasting impact - I'm sure of it," added Miller Vincent.

"The Awaken Conference was inspiring to attend. Attendees were able to participate in beautifully curated, unique, local experiences and important conversations. This reinforced the concept of regenerative tourism as accessible and doable within all regions of Nova Scotia," commented Shannon Monk, Mikmaw Cultural Tourism Project Manager.

In the true spirit of creating an experience, local foods, local music, local stories, and embracing the land in the Annapolis Valley all contributed to enabling participants to assess how they could take back some of these new practices and apply them within their own regions.

At the end of the three days, participants were eager to keep in touch and nurture lasting and impactful relationships that will have resounding effects on the tourism industry, setting the stage for regenerative and experiential tourism to flourish in all our communities.

For more information on experiential and regenerative tourism and the next steps in the region's tourism strategy, please reach out to the Valley REN at [email protected] or visit valleyren.ca/tourism-project/.

Tourism Project The Valley REN’s Tourism Project is implementing a strategic initiative designed to bolster the region’s economic strength through the promotion and development of its tourism sector. Recognizing the importance of tourism in the region, this project aims to capitalize on the Vall...

08/19/2024

The responses from participants. We collaborated with over 20 community partners to craft a 3-day conference about experiential and regenerative tourism entitled Awaken, for 48 economic development officers and destination managers in the Annapolis Valley. The transformative process is one of combining vision + attention to detail + sustainability + storytelling + authentic settings + choreography + inviting all of your community partners to contribute in new ways developing their own capacities in the process.

07/30/2024

At a recent workshop that I co-developed with a great team from the Valley Regional Economic Network and the CBDCs of Nova Scotia, to help 48 economic development officers, business advisors, and destination managers, we were able to collaborate with many Annapolis Valley partners to deliver a remarkable and inspiring 3-day conference on Experiential and Regenerative Tourism.

One of the community partners who delighted us was Daniel James McFadyen at the Ross Creek Annex. He took us "behind the scenes" into the making of a song with his band, involving us in helping to set up the drum line, and then weaving his band in and out to layer in the various instruments.

One of the benefits of creating visitor experiences like this, is that we can all be involved, rather than sitting back passively to watch. The smiles and delights from these participating adults, as they played their way through under Daniel's guidance, was a testament to how we can raise the bar on the power of community visitor experiences that are fun, educational, and can involve new community partners all year long.

07/29/2024

There is something truly magical and rewarding when tourism is carefully nurtured from the community up. It's helpful when the frame for developing tourism is not done from the old lens of "making money". Tourism requires careful nurturing to be a relationship-based visitor economy, in which authenticity, local foods, regenerative business practices, and the opportunities for matching visitors whose values are aligned with learning and slowing down.

Landsby is one of those companies that is leading Canada to a different form of match-making in tourism, matching legendary accommodations with regenerative visitor experiences. In their online magazine Northern Soul, they have curated an article about one project that I am involved with - the foodartnature.ca collective.

Thanks Landsby for taking the time to write such a beautiful article that teases out the stories, storytellers, and the unique experiences available to visitors to Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley.

https://landsby.ca/northernsoul/growing-experiential-tourism/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Mon+Jul+29+2024&utm_campaign=Northern+Soul+on+Saturday

Residents come together to create new visitor experiences that centre around the needs of the community. The end result? One-of-a-kind experiential tourism that

07/24/2024

Sharing a post from the Annapolis Valley Regional Economic Network...

"Awakening the True Potential of Tourism
From July 9-11, the region was the host for an immersive 3-day workshop designed to equip business development professionals from the Valley and across Nova Scotia, with the knowledge and skills needed to support their communities in offering legendary tourism experiences.

This groundbreaking and impactful offering represented a key step in the region’s tourism strategy and was developed through collaboration with the Valley REN, the Nova Scotia Association of CBDCs, Celes Davar with Earth Rhythms and was funded by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA).

Held at Acadia University, “Awaken” was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the wonderful experiences being delivered here in the Annapolis Valley where participants received hands-on learning through visits to several local businesses. At the end of the 3 days, the participants were eager to keep in-touch and nurture lasting and impactful relationships that will have resounding effects for the tourism industry, setting the stage for regenerative and experiential tourism to flourish in all our communities."

It was a really special project to work with the Valley REN and the CBCDs of Nova Scotia to co-create and deliver this intensive professional development training over 3 days, in collaboration with about 20 community partners delivering presentations, experiences, food concepts, and much more.

07/18/2024

If you have not read Northern Soul Magazine, that Landsby offers, I recommend reading, and then travelling to some of the remarkable locations they offer access to. As an agency of change offering Regenerative Travel opportunities, "Landsby creates unique and immersive experiences that not only provide travellers with purposeful and enriching trips but aim to positively impact the communities being explored. We are supporting and rebuilding Canada’s tourism sector through innovative collaborations, storytelling, and a focus on Indigenous and Regenerative travel."

northernsoul Volume 4 - Summer 2024Scroll down to read northernsoul Volume 4 - Summer 2024Scroll down to read Editor's Note When I reflect on some of my most memorable travel experiences, a common thread emerges: human connection. While breathtaking views may wow us and attractions may impress us, i...

07/04/2024

What's on my mind? One of the most profoundly important documents that is helping me to question, learn, and become aware of a major shift in economics presented by

There are three terms that are explained well, amongst the many other frameworks, suggestions and historical context within this remarkable document.

https://www.sfu.ca/sfunews/stories/2022/06/-new-indigenous-led-economic-reconciliation-framework-to-guide-t.html

Decolonization
Decolonization requires questioning and dismantlingthe Western worldview in places where it has asserteddominance in structures, processes and knowledgesystems over those of Indigenous peoples. It is a process ofnaming and shifting imbalances in power for the purpose ofvaluing and balancing many worldviews. For the economicsector in particular, it involves examining and dismantlingthe institutions and structures in place that favour settlersociety with regards to land use, business ownership andentrepreneurship, financing and community development.For individuals of settler identity, decolonization involvesexamining in what ways settler colonialism has affordedyou privileges in our current economic system. It also callsfor reflections on how you and your ancestors came toarrive on the land you are on, and who you are in relationto the Indigenous peoples in the community where youlive. Decolonization invites you to develop an awareness ofworldviews that are different from your own.

Indigenization
Indigenization is also a process that works to find balancebetween different worldviews by embedding Indigenousknowledge, values and ways of being into systems andpractices. These ways of knowing can serve to transformsystems, places, and hearts where desired.7 Two-eyedseeing is important here because Indigenization is not aboutmerely replacing Western knowledge and practices withthose of Indigenous people, but rather bringing Indigenousand Western knowledge systems into conversation withone another, recognizing that both can be harnessed for thewell-being of all.

Reconciliation

While Indigenization and Decolonization are orientedtowards finding balance in worldviews and respecting andallowing for multiple ways of being and knowing to guideus, reconciliation in this context refers to the process ofhealing relationships built on abuse, exploitation, oppressionand violence. This relationship has led to ongoing trauma,mistrust, inequality and continued privilege of one groupover another. With reconciliation between Indigenous andnon-Indigenous people in Canada, this harmful relationshipspans multiple groups of people and many generations overhundreds of years.

While there is a common assumption that reconciliation is primarily the work of Indigenous people, the onus is in fact on settler individuals and societyto ameliorate the harm done, and requires a great deal of Indigenization, Decolonization and Reconciliation.

Braiding the three processes together
Reconciliation is certainly an important and necessarybeginning: the start of recognizing, knowing andunderstanding of the history and impacts of ongoing settlercolonialism on Indigenous peoples. Because these are deepwounds in need of healing, the process of reconciliationis ongoing. Decolonization can be viewed as the ‘undoing’of colonial origins and Indigenization is the resurgence ofIndigenous knowing and being. Indigenization moves beyond tokenistic gestures of acknowledgment or basic inclusiondone in a colonial way, to a shift in practices, structures,institutions, systems, and so forth.

In short, all processeswork towards honouring sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples and Nations, whilst recognizing and allowing for their uniqueways of knowing to be respected, practiced and learned inthe ways that other ways of knowing and doing have been.Instead of looking for an endpoint where all of theseprocesses lead to, we invite you to take a step along thejourney and see where it takes you. As you dig deeperwith each step you take, recognize that mistakes willbe made along the way. Patience and an openness tochange is absolutely required along this learning path and opportunities for growth will present themselves.

A path to economic reconciliation is outlined in a new report released this week by Sxwpilemaát Siyám, Hereditary Chief Leanne Joe, of the Squamish Nation, in partnership with SFU’s Community Economic Development (CED) program.

06/30/2024

FoodArtNature experiences are being booked and enjoyed by visitors to the Annapolis Valley this summer.

Explore unique, sustainable experiences in the Annapolis Valley with foodartnature. Created by a passionate community of local practitioners, our offerings focus on regenerative practices, local culture, and hands-on learning. Connect with nature and our community while supporting local initiatives....

06/20/2024

Are you familiar with Destination Canada's Destination Dialogue's virtual events? This year, I am delighted to share that we are collaborating with Destination Canada to offer a unique Webinar on September 12, entitled "Rethinking Experience Development in Canada's Destinations". I am especially delighted to be working not only with the Destination Dialogues team at Destination Canada, but will also be hosting and facilitating two remarkable Canadians in this webinar, who have created legendary and award-winning regenerative visitor experiences.

The webinar, open across the country, will involve a short keynote address by myself including a couple of case studies about experience development, and then a panel discussion with our two experience hosts - Lourdes Still, from Masagana Flower Farm in south-eastern Manitoba; and Dave Schonberger, with Ottercreek Woodworks in southern Ontario. They are passionate hosts, whose experiences are in-market and selling. They will share lessons learned, insights and answer questions.

I hope that you can join us on September 12, 8:30 AM PDT/11:30 EDT.

06/12/2024

In the experiential tourism work I do across Canada, it is a joy to find community hosts who have stories to share as regenerative visitor experiences. It is very helpful when local governments (federal, provincial, and municipal) are able to invest into these projects, not just on a one time basis, but to inject investments for the long term that help build capacity, train community members, develop programming, and enable business to business collaboration. Frankly, there is a disproportionate amount of federal and provincial spending that is allocated to infrastructure spending, which is often tied into election time spending.

It is really important to understand that infrastructure investments into refurbishments, new facilities, tourism site developments are often done as capital projects that have not had a history of including two very important components that should define every tourism capital project:
1) That the physical building or infrastructure should demonstrate net zero or net positive impact for energy consumption (should be renewable), low carbon, and use of local labour and materials.
2) That all capital infrastructure projects should have a certain minimum (I would suggest 15% of the total capital cost being requested) dedicated to investing into programming. Programming (events, experiences, program directors) are the means by which return of revenues, year-round relevance, and sustainable funding for an organization can be achieved.

Thanks to ACOA, the collaboration between the Wolfville Farmers’ Market, the Blomidon Naturalist's Society, and Earth Rhythms has resulted in a year over year investment into a project that has created a collective of new regenerative visitor experiences. This collective of experiences enables businesses and non-profits in the Annapolis Valley is able to offer unique hosted experiences that are about local hosts that I call "non-traditional Community partners", local stories, slow travel, and immersive, hands-on activities relevant to the place that visitors are being welcomed. I have enjoyed the last year and a half of working with these hosts in the Annapolis Valley to coach them, and be part of a project team that is figuring out how to offer these experiences into the Annapolis Valley, where we do not have a destination management organization.

When an inventory of experiences like this are created, it becomes possible to then offer this collective to a national travel agency and tour operator like Landsby to begin assessing how to include them in their guest travel plans and itineraries.

We are grateful to Landsby for their recent coverage in their stellar online magazine called Northern Soul for the feature piece on the foodartnature collective. Thank you!

Residents come together to create new visitor experiences that centre around the needs of the community. The end result? One-of-a-kind experiential tourism that

06/11/2024

Good things for any traveller to be thinking about when traveling particularly on long distance trips to other parts of the world. Travellers have a responsibility to behave appropriately. It's why I really dislike large cruise ships (river cruises and small explorer cruise ships are the exception), and mass tourism resort properties. Most of the food and water is shipped in with high carbon emissions to feed and water thousands of visitors; waste is dumped into the oceans; and communities are not in control of the tourism service delivery model. Those who own the cruise ships and the resort properties are driving a low cost, high mark up model. These models are simply unsustainable.

The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Incorporated as a not-for-profit foundation in 1971, and headquar...

06/11/2024

It seems to me that this is a better model for tourism, people, communities, and the planet.

"By its very nature, tourism values things that are precious in our world: stunning landscapes, wildlife, history, culture and people. It can be a catalyst for growth in the local economy, providing jobs, opportunities for enterprise and funds for conservation. But, wherever it occurs, tourism can, and often does, have negative impacts on communities and the environment: loss of housing, loss of access to land and resources, overcrowding, pollution, the destruction of ecosystems and damage to cultural heritage. Many of these impacts are intensified by the impacts of climate change, which tourism has played no small part in fuelling.

The aim of sustainable tourism is to increase the benefits and to reduce the negative impacts caused by tourism. Going beyond managing the negative impacts of tourism, the term regenerative tourism is used to describe tourism that restores and improves the environment, culture, and economy of a destination. Regenerative tourism seeks to create a positive impact on local communities and leave the destination in a better state than it was found, while providing an authentic travel experience for visitors.

Unfortunately, much of tourism today focusses on growth in numbers of arrivals, overnight stays, and visitor spending, with the economic benefits increasingly concentrated among the few at the top of the value chain. All to often, the real cost of tourism for destinations is not accounted for and it is local residents who lose out.

The Travel Foundation’s role is to advocate for and enable a different model of tourism that is in balance with community needs and the environment."

By its very nature, tourism values things that are precious in our world: stunning landscapes, wildlife, history, culture and people. It can be a catalyst for growth in the local economy, providing jobs, opportunities for enterprise and funds for conservation. But, wherever it occurs, tourism can, a...