Tourism; Promising, Attractive, Exciting, Important to The Value of Our Lifestyle and Communities

Tourism; Promising, Attractive, Exciting, Important to The Value of Our Lifestyle and Communities

What amazes me is most towns and cities don’t see themselves as a tourist or vacation destination. Towns and cities invest a ton of money on infrastructure which includes recreational and entertainment facilities.

Why not draw tourists and vacation seekers to your town or city?

What happens is most people live in a town or city and leave to vacation somewhere else. I am a big advocate of everyone travelling to many different areas of this incredible world and getting to know our global community.

With all the money spent by governments on infrastructure, we need Town and City politicians to see the opportunity to get the rest of the world to visit our great communities.

Every town or city has the potential to be a destination vacation location.   Why are communities selling themselves short?

Before I continue on my Soapbox and beat up local politicians, I want to challenge you as a resident of your great town or city to think about how you could market your incredible recreational, historical, and entertainment facilities in your community.

Challenge Number One

I would challenge you to have a Stay Vacation; I am not talking about laying in your backyard. I want you to take your entire vacation budget and spend it on vacation in your community.

Get outside of your comfort zone; go to live theatre, the ballet, the symphony, the arts community, the Science Centre, the IMAX, a recreational center, a farmer’s market, historical sites, locally owned restaurants and bars, local sporting events, and so much more.

Challenge Number Two

Once you have lived in your community for some time become an ambassador for your neighbourhood use the social media platforms you love and promote your city.

Challenge Number Three;

The Town and City Council Wake Up Call

Here is where I challenge the local politicians.

Next year will be our 30th Anniversary of living in our City of choice; I have never heard of any recognition given to long-time residences; sure there are philanthropy awards; this is not what I am not referring to.

I am talking about members of our community who have quietly just gone about living their lives in the city.

These folks were active with our children’s’ recreational sports, school trips as chaperones and owning a small business. They always acted in other duties like a Director on the Chamber of Commerce, members of several city clubs, sponsors of The Children’s Festival, Charity Golf Tournaments and much more.

Also, they have encouraged their children to purchase homes in the community and raise their families.

I know there are plenty of folks in our community like this. I am asking you not to feel sorry for them because they never were recognized with a community award.  They are not looking for this recognition.

They are happy with an excellent life in their community.

My recommendation would be to challenge each community to look at their long-term residents, set up individual awards, create a yearly ceremony for longtime residents and ask them to be ambassadors or welcoming agents for visitors and tourists to your town or city.

Make a call to City Hall and Spearhead Your Local Ambassadors Awards and Program.