Panel Session: Tourism
Friday, June 3, 2005,
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Oak Room, Boone Tavern
Berea, Kentucky
Panelists:
Carole Summers, Handmade in America
Chris Cathers, Director, Kentucky Artisan Heritage Trails
Judy Sizemore, Outreach Coordinator, Kentucky Arts Council
Moderator: Carole Summers
Chis Cathers: Director, Kentucky Artisan Heritage Trails (KAHT)
- KAHT was developed by Eastern Kentucky University’s Center for Economic Development, Entrepreneurship and Technology (CEDET), an Economic Development Administration (EDA) University Center with funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC).
- When planning for the Artisan Center at Berea, the center was to bring the tourists out to the craftspeople and other area interests within the state. A driving route was needed.
- This driving route was to include where they needed to go and what they will see when they get there.
- A Website was developed for the driving route that included maps, driving trail with accurate driving directions and distances to make it easy for the tourist.
- They encouraged craftspeople, cultural sites, and other places of interest such as B&B’s. The goal was to mesh these people with technology to bring the tourist to them.
- What KAHT is:
- They encourage businesses to embrace technology by using simplistic language by holding their hand in their development.
- They support businesses through on-going education: wholesaling, marketing, and encouraging the art form of telling their story for preservation and to be used as a marketing tool.
- They develop “regional ambassadors” by encouraging networking and offering relationships to refer people to. Helping them to make that good first impression. They’ll always remember the smile, the story…
- They provide a cluster-marketing network: Referring to others to help one another.
To make this program a reality, they began to Fazes of activity through Cultural Heritage Tourism. They went into areas finding out who was in that area and adding each area as they completed. GPS coordinates added accuracy for driving instructions. Once all phases are completed, they will have a complete map.
KAHT Places that were added: Places of accommodations, antique shops, art galleries, craft studios, historic/cultural sites, outdoor recreation, regional restaurants, agricultural specialties (agritourism).
KAHT features that have been added are event listings, quarterly newsletters, on-line business training program (download a worksheet telling of wholesaling and how to deal with the public), links to other tourism related websites, business resources. Other items: A business site recruitment process by working with local leaders.
KAHT has nearly 400 participants. They have surveyed the participants and some statistics for the program revealed that 75% of the participants had first website and that 83% said that the KAHT website helps them attract customers.
Carroll’s Quilts and Crafts is a real life example and testimony on how technology has helped her business.
Judy Sizemore, Cultural Economical Development within the Community Level: Kentucky’s Cultural/Heritage Corridor and the Kentucky Community Scholar Program
The Kentucky Arts Council (KAC) takes its cues on cultural/heritage tourism from the communities with which it works in developing their projects. In eastern Kentucky, the arts council is actively engaged with eight counties along Route 23 in creating a cultural tourism plan that will be a springboard for economic, community and cultural development.
The people in the communities are the products. They are working with people to celebrate their community’s heritage by guiding them. Sometimes the communities can go too fast. Have to make sure the communities are visitor ready by developing their arts/culture assets and involving the community with their hands-on involvement and support.
To assist these communities in rediscovering their cultural resources, Judy brought people together to define the vision of the Route 23 Corridor Project, along with representatives of the Education, Arts and Humanities Cabinet and other state agencies and organizations. She organized meetings in each of the counties, resulting in grassroots partnerships among artists, musicians, tourism practitioners, local government officials, church leaders, teachers, community-based arts organizations, historical societies and economic development offices.
After a year of meetings, the eight counties have taken over the process. They meet each month and are preparing an application to establish themselves as a regional arts council. In addition, each county is applying to the Kentucky Arts Council for a community arts development grant. There are also plans underway to create a Web site and arts marketing network along the corridor, a video highlighting the attractions and potential of each county, and an audio driving tour. An even more substantial outcome of the KAC's efforts is that in the course of sprucing up their region for visitors, local residents met new neighbors and rediscovered cultural assets they had overlooked in the past. The Kentucky Arts Council made it possible for community members to exchange ideas and strategies for implementing their vision, completing the first phase of the project. The various communities have taken ownership of the project and will shape its future, one that reflects their values and coincides with the cultural/heritage visitor's thirst for human stories and places--filled with swinging bridges, old barns, arts and crafts, country music and family history. So whether you call it cultural tourism, heritage tourism or cultural/heritage tourism, the end results are the same: More than simply being an economic or marketing tool to revitalize an area, cultural/heritage tourism plays an important part in reweaving the fabric of community life.
Kentucky Community Scholars Program:
This program was started by the Kentucky Folklife Program.
About 90% of the participants in the Kentucky Community Scholars Program are involved in festivals. These people were finding that their festivals were struggling with visitors, community support and many had become more commercial, losing their meaning and had unrealistic goals.
The program was a way for people to learn tools to identify traditions, how to interpret them, and an in depth look at the traditions within a community.
The program also helped the participants tell their stories and identify what they were all about and what made them unique and gave the community their identity.
The program helps with folklife documentation techniques, ethics of working with their communities, gives them research methods, gives them a presentation of cultural resources, helps with grant writing, project development, and provides them with a network of other scholars within the state.
The curriculum of the program: Participants attend six workshops (one per month) and complete reading and fieldwork assignments in order to learn folklife concepts (folk groups, genres) and skills including fieldwork (field notes, interviews and documentary photography), archiving, interpretation, and presentation (narrative stage, exhibit and signage). Most participants attend the Kentucky Folklife Festival and participate in the Very Important Presenters workshop. They develop an individual or group project and present the proposal for evaluation.
Mushroom Festival in Estill County –
They had a culture for hunting for the Murrell Mushroom but the festival had no connection with the actual reason for the festival. So they worked with Community Scholars in the area and involved the hunters to incorporate the tradition in the festival by using video, terrariums, etc. The Estill Arts Council was one of the resources that were used to help with this project.
Discovery Festival-
Had the Louis and Clark theme with no connection to community. They invited art and craft artists. They then incorporated clogging, which was important to the community and horseshoe throwing and included artists for demonstrations.
Clay County Middle School –
Making it part of the curriculum to develop kids skills from passing skills from artist to child. Mentoring to young people. A girl sold one of her baskets for $75.00, which will be a life-changing event for her to see that others valued her and her skills.
Goal is to make the festivals a quality experience for both the visitors and the community.
Carole Summers, Handmade in America
Our mission is to celebrate the HAND and the HANDMADE, to nurture the CREATION of TRADITIONAL and CONTEMORARY craft, to REVERE and PROTECT our resources and to preserve and enrich the SPIRITUAL, CULTURAL, and COMMUNITY life of our region.
Shaping Cultural Heritage Tourism
n Increasing economic impact is but one goal.
n HandMade strives to ignite passion for our landscape and encourage stewardship of our assets by both visitors and residents.
Our Guidebooks
n The Craft Heritage Trails of Western North Carolina
n Farms, Gardens and Countryside Trails of Western North Carolina
Tourism in 2005
n The economy is coming back to 2000 levels - - but it us a completely different world in tourism
n Behavioral changes will affect our visitors, customers, and our future
Top Ten Trends in 2005
As taken from Randall Travel Marketing
www.rtm.com
1. Moderate Economic Growth
- desperate to be optimistic – but still cautious
- must be able to adapt to changes in consumer behavior
- major incident will stop growth temporarily
2. Changing Demographics
- by 2010, 50% of all Americans will be over 40
- retirees moving into rural scenic areas
- Minorities moving into rural areas
- educated 20-40 moving into cities
What does this mean?
Opportunities with Changing Demographics…
-Craft and cottage industry
-Heritage
-Growing Adult Education
-Volunteerism
-small business/second careers for retirees
- Gen “X” desire to love a “life of value” – back to rural areas or where they are from
3. “Bargain-Brained” Consumers
-discount retailers
-endless price shopping
-last minute buying to get deal
-driving to do bulk shopping
-Promote the Unique
-Sell the value
-Packaging with other products and experiences creates value beyond a discount
-Focus on consumer demand for convenience – service!
4. Transportation Challenges
-Struggling airlines
-High fuel costs
-No realistic plan for rail
-Decaying highway infrastructure
-Gov’t can’t afford to fix all
5. Trading Up
-Consumers are more sophisticated
-Trends are changing at a faster rate
-Rural is no longer isolated
-Food – fresh and local
-Must stay on top of trends to survive
6. Technology Dependent Society
- Internet for trip planning/purchase
- All demographics are online
- Self check in and out
- IM, phones and PDA’s
7. Safety, personal comfort and convenience are primary concerns
- Safety
- Less hassle/ non-stress
- Up to 40% decline in lodging occupancy related to safety and convenience
8. US changing from manufacturing base to small business and technology base
- Factories leaving, but growth in tourism, technology, creative economy, and health care
9. Vacations: Quick/Short (4-5 day) AND Longer “Sabbatical” vacations
- 4-5 short trips per year on average
- 2 weeks + But not every year
- Traveler looking for products that simplify life or offer escape and luxury
10. “Vacation” has changed (go/see/do vs. chill and immerse)
- Travelers looking to escape
- Short Getaways
- Year round travel
Arts Organizations Must…
n Hold true to the authentic – travelers are still looking to take home something unique with a story
n Excel in creative partnering – leveraging marketing dollars
n Find a way to be part of the tourism world – or find someone that can be that liaison
HandMade’s Tourism Program
n Craft experiences
n AgriCultural experiences
n Technical support to crafters and farms
n PARTNERSHIPS
n Marketing
n Packaging
HandMade’s Tourism Program
n We do NOT make money on the guidebooks – but looking at new uses for those (incentives, packaging, give-a ways)
n Very little marketing money – Value of PR
n Cross marketing and leveraging
n Strategic Partnerships
Carole Summers, Director of Tourism
HandMade in America
csummers@handmadeinamerica.org
www.handmadeinamerica.org
828/252-0121
Peer group session: Tourism
Friday, June 3, 2005, 2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
Kentucky Artisan Center, Conference Room
Berea, Kentucky
Moderator: Cheryl Hartley
Everyone went around the room. Introduced themselves, where they were from and their group and obstacles or issues in their own communities they have dealing in cultural heritage tourism or tourism in general.
Issues included: Arts and tourism – working together/partnership and building tourism back up.
Themes brought up:
- How to bring in more tourism
- If you have tourism, how to capitalize on what you have.
- World, national, regional representations.
Challenging tourism market today:
- Trends
- Use each other and partner
Working with communities:
- Hospitality training in communities is needed
- University’s starting are starting to offer hospitality classes
- Berea has sponsored a program for the community on hospitality but not much attendance.
- Challenges still include getting service people to know what their communities have to offer.
- Getting children to know the value of what they have around them in their communities that may then pass over to parents. In Johnson County in Kentucky they get their school children to go around and visit their community sites in hopes that the children will tell their parents.
- Hospitality training is needed, but as in with the project in Kentucky, identifying what is unique about a community is important.
- Do not want the communities to miss what makes them unique and to build on the “traditions” within a community.
- Tough to get locals to be patrons.
- A marketing class from Berea College worked with the 1st Friday Gallery Hop with marketing ideas. The 1st one it rained and was not good. The 2nd one, they had thought of ideas to include the children. Children were able to make their mother’s a vase for Mother’s Day. They also incorporated food, music. Trying to get the locals out for FREE. Thinking was that if they got them there they might begin to shop locally.
- In the beach area the soft shell crabs shed’s their shells which is a very significant event in their area but the locals do not want the tourists to see it and to allow for tours. They are very protective. Also, the art of making yachts they do not want to allow for visitors due to the complexity of making them.
- Idea to the beach area: Respect the fact that they do not want to allow visitors. Set up an area to show them the crabs /yachts as a means for educating them. Problem is that the local tourism isn’t interested - only concerned about beach. Berea College has tours of woodworking and said that you may OSHA issues to deal with the boat tours.
- Building relationships is important in the community. In the boat building aspect, they may concentrate on working with the boat building community to provide classes or offer a “college” of fine woodworking.
- Locals can’t afford to live there with all the big houses. Maybe find a way to incorporate the fine woodworking and stained glass aspects in the houses for these people to help the local’s economy.
- Craft Advocate would be nice. Kentucky had Phyllis George Brown who began the KCMP. What about finding someone in the area that is a celebrity to serve as his or her “craft advocate”. The National Trust for Preservation went to the ad council and now they have stars do promo for their cause, which has elevated awareness.
A word of caution is that communities need to be ready. The community’s infrastructure and capacity needs to be there. Careful planning, sensitivity along with engaging the community to help are musts.