TOURISM: A CATALYST FOR COMMUNITY VITALITY
As an industry, we’ve long recognized that tourism is a catalyst for community vitality and that the impact of our work extends far beyond our industry. Results from our resident sentiment research suggest that both Americans and Canadians recognize this as well. As Maura Allen Gast, FCDME, Executive Director of the Irving Convention and Visitors Bureau, stated in 2009, “If you build a place where people want to visit, you’ll build a place where people want to live. If you build a place where people want to live, you’ll build a place where people want to work. If you build a place where people want to work, you’ll build a place where business wants to be. And, if you build a place where business wants to be, we’ll be back to building a place where people want to visit. It all starts with the visit and that visit doesn’t happen without us.” The adage, “it starts with a visit,” holds true. Among Americans who have not lived in their current state of residence their entire life, six in ten (61%) visited the state on a leisure or business trip prior to moving there. In Canada, half (49%) visited their province of residence prior to moving to the province. The long-term relationship one has with a place often does start with a visit.
THE WORK OF A DESTINATION ORGANIZATION
If you built a place where people want to visit, then you have built a place where people want to live. 1.VISIT
And if you built a place where people want to live, then you have built a place where people want to work. 2. LIVE
a 3 The Community Vitality Wheel 1 It Starts With A Visit You Need To Keep The Wheel Turning and Manage Its Speed
That Is the Work of a Destination Organization 4
From Visit, To Live, To Work, To Invest. 2
And if you built a place where business and residents will invest, then you have built a place where people will want to visit. 4. INVEST
And if you built a place where people want to work, then you have built a place where business and residents will invest. 3. WORK
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4 | DESTINATION REPUTATION & SENTIMENT STUDY
DESTINATIONS INTERNATIONAL | 5
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