This Topic: Tourism Conference

[Michael Dolan]

To all who are interested in a balanced economic plan for Freeland, please review the following opportunity to participate in a conference on Tourism. Susan Knickerbocker is willing to participate and is looking for a few others to attend with her. If interested, send Susan a note at sk@whidbey.com --

Best wishes from the road,

Mike Dolan, Chair
Freeland Vision 2025 Committee
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Dear Scenic Byway and Tourism Constituents,

The Washington State Tourism Office and Department of Transportation invite you to participate in a Scenic Byway - Tourism workshop on Tuesday, April 18th at Fort Worden State Park Conference Center Building 204DN from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Lunch is $ 11.00 inclusive.

Presenter, Judy Walden, will lead the customized workshop providing tools and strategies for both the Strait of Juan De Fuca and Whidbey Scenic Isle Way Byway organizations.

Discussion Topics to Include:

Learn how Scenic Byways can attract visitors and enhance tourism revenue
* How to increase off-season travel and tourism with sense of stewardship
* Coordinating tourism activities with other regional byways
* Cooperative planning and marketing
* Next steps for funding, projects, and implementation

Presenter Judy Walden plans tourism development with mountainous regions and rural communities throughout the U.S. and is best known for her lively and engaging presentation style. She developed the Grassroots Training Kit for Colorado's Byways, conducted Power Workshops for America's Byways Resource Center, and is currently developing interpretive plans for four byways in Kentucky.

RSVP to Gail Mitchell by Wednesday, April 12 either by email at gailm@cted.wa.gov or phone 360-725-4177.

Michelle Reilly
Marketing Outreach Manager
Washington State Tourism
128 10th Ave. SW
Olympia, WA 98501
phone 360.725.4181 cell 360.970.6264
micheller@cted.wa.gov

[Michael Dolan]

Rural Tourism Initiatives – Notes and Ideas from the Tourism Workshop

For many tourists, the countryside is an attractive choice of destination. The relationship between tourism and the environment is particularly marked in rural areas. However, rural areas can be sensitive to change through tourism. Changes in the environment, effects on the social fabric and economic well-being require careful monitoring. With this in mind, recognizing the impacts and planning sensitive approaches to rural tourism is a challenge for the twenty-first century.

In contemporary times, the countryside continues to form an important tourist destination. The appeal of the countryside as a holiday destination is complex, linked to opportunities for a variety of sports and activities, peace and quiet, space, nature and traditional ways of life. It might be argued that the countryside symbolizes a lost ‘golden age’; that it contains everything that urban areas lack. Indeed, the countryside is seen as special and deserving of protection across the world, demonstrated, for example, by the designation of National Parks.

The relationship between tourism and the environment is particularly close in rural areas, which necessitates sensitive planning and management of both the resource base and tourism activity. Tourism can result in positive and negative impacts on the rural economy, environment and society. Even though Whidbey Island is already a tourist destination, Freeland is not. It is the potential for organizing tourism services to generate more visitors and create income and employment that is the motivating force for developing a tourism plan for Freeland.

What follows are my notes from the workshop and ideas developed from the notes.

Michelle Reilly is with the State Department of Tourism and manages the www.ExperienceWa.com web site. She proposed that we do an inventory of things unique to our areas in developing ideas. What are Freeland’s special places?

For Freeland we could organize Wildlife Walks in conjunction with Audubon. Ideas of this type will help establish how we want our area to be perceived and from that, help in developing a ‘Branding Campaign’ or ‘5 Reasons to Come to Freeland’. Gresham OR is in the process of developing a city branding campaign and I have sent a request to them for a copy of their plan. Marketing or Branding campaigns must be presented to the community for their approval and also so that everyone in the community shares the same vision from shop keepers to wait staff to checkout clerks. This way the message is promoted in the community, by community members to visitors to our community.

The Scenic Isle Corridor Management Plan for Whidbey Island is available from the Island County web site, Public Works Department in .pdf format.

Some source material on Freeland is available from the many “Island” magazines on the Ferry.

At some point if Freeland becomes a city, we need to explore the “Land Bank” process where the city can purchase land for income development related to tourism.

In the interim - the Freeland Chamber website could be enlarged to address tourism activities.

There are seven specific targets in the tourism business that guide capturing the tourist dollar and they are based on times of the day. When you travel, you eat, do things and sleep. So, you have breakfast and activities to do before lunch; lunch and activities to do before dinner; dinner and evening activities followed by sleep. Of primary importance are the ‘things to do and see’ in an area as that is why tourists are here in the first place. Second are places to eat and third, place to stay the night. Cruise ships and tourist resorts like Disneyland are prime examples of getting all the tourist dollar. How do we improve our chances of keeping more of the tourist dollar? Businesses that are able to combine lodging and meals usually come out best as they can get dinner, sleep and breakfast, three areas of tourist spending.

Develop a “Tourism Strategy” (Copy available on the Vision 2025 web site www.vision2025committee.com

Marketing question – Why come here? Our focus needs to be ‘real’ and ’authentic’. What do we define as our “Sense of place?” What is our story? (We need to do a better job of telling our Freeland story)

What can make Freeland a place people want to visit? (Talk to Mary Solt)

Sell only those places and things you are willing to share with outsiders in order to balance the needs of business with the community.

Community Trade and Econnomic Development (CTED) has Tourism related resources on its web site – go to http://www.cted.wa.gov/ and click on the Tourism Ideas photo.

Research what other rural communities are doing to promote tourism, like Snohomish, WA http://www.ci.snohomish.wa.us/EDCDestinationSnohomish.htm
and Meeker, CO http://www.meekerchamber.com/

Talk to our Historical Society to get detailed information about our heritage and how Freeland was started.

What do we have? Trails, beaches, water, kayaking, on & off road cycling, shopping, restaurants, parks…

How do we engage the Port of South Whidbey in tourism promotion?

Jack Penland is developing a Tourism Video, John Pennington of Oak Harbor has a Whidbey Tourism video.

New Festival – Starry Nights Festival to take advantage of low light pollution (see town of Yucca Valley for details
http://www.yucca-valley.org/departments/museumlecture.html

Organic Farms/Winery Tour

So where do we go from here?

[leanne finlay]

Here is where we went at the end of 2008:

www.newyearsweekendonwhidbey.blogspot.com

This website was for ALL of Whidbey, and has many Freeland activities and shops. The heavy snowfall during the Christmas season devastated many island businesses, so we encourage everyone to get out this weekend and check out the bargains many of our merchants are offering, and ... go have some FUN!

Check out the Polar Bear Dive at the Freeland Park dock that was held New Years' Day. They had 148 people ACTUALLY CHOOSE TO GET INTO PUGET SOUND! There is a video clip on the website -- check out at the bottom of the Freeland section.

I also want to thank RoseAnn Alspektor from Island County tourism, she helped immensely, and posted all of our news on the www.WhidbeyCamanoIslands.com which is also a fabulous website!

2009 is going to be a year of doing a few things differently, rediscovering basics, but it definitely going to be a positive year, and a fun year. Count on it!

-Leanne