We’ve got exciting news: CCT’s Tourism Route Development e-learning course is here! This course has been in the works for a while, because we’ve wanted to make sure we get it right; to deliver you the best possible information and set of strategies to help you succeed in your own efforts to build a tourism route. You see, route development is not just the latest fad in tourism, it’s the new gold standard for any destination worth visiting. People don’t want to simply go to a place and see or do just one thing, they want many different things to experience—and they want you to tell them what’s good to experience, with stops and maps and suggestions all planned out for them.
If you’re a destination, or your business is part of a larger destination, and you want to bring in more people who are going to spend more money, then this is the course that will help you level up your tourism game.
Why build a tourism route?
As far back as 2006, route development has been hailed as “the future of sustainable tourism.” That being said, the idea of collective, locational draw is not necessarily a modern concept. Many different industries regularly take advantage of this phenomenon: automotive dealer parks, jewellery districts and garment districts, to name just a few examples.
In tourism, however, a business cannot simply “up roots” and move to a more advantageous park or district, because most often their present location is a core part of their business. This is where the tourism route comes in. If we take the same theory of collective effort on the part of the businesses in a given place, and offer visitors a route to follow, we can achieve the same outcomes.
When you put the effort into completing the Tourism Route Development course, you will have a better understanding of your visitors, your business, what people want to experience at your location and how they want to experience it. Through strong partnerships with other like-minded businesses, you can all grow your collective visitation—and the receipts that come along with it.
What is the CCT Learning Lab?
A quick recap of our CCT Learning Lab in case you haven’t heard of it: This online e-learning portal is a one-stop resource shop designed to help you elevate your tourism offerings with interactive, simple-to-follow courses. If you are one of our region’s businesses, municipalities or organizations with a stake in tourism (or stakeholders, as you are collectively referred to), then we’ve designed this free portal to support you on your skills development journey so that you will thrive within the visitor economy. That’s what we’re all about here at Central Counties. Your success, after all, is our success.
With our Learning Lab, not only will you have the chance to learn about tourism concepts (such as Social Media Marketing, Tourism Grant Writing, and the Tourism Ambassador Program), while learning you will also have the chance to put together your own ideas and strategies in real time. Depending on the course material and what the intended outcome is, most courses come with a supplementary workbook which you’ll fill out as you go, specifically applying the concepts and information discussed to your own business. In short, you’ll be doing it all live as you learn!
And don’t worry about the time it will take you to complete our online courses. Of course, it will be worth the effort. But more importantly, you don’t have to do everything in one go. You can come back and learn at your own pace, as your schedule allows. The Learning Lab will remember where you left off and pick back up at that spot when you return.
The Tourism Route Development Course
In this free, online e-learning course, you’ll learn exactly what a tourism route is, and what different types of routes there can be. In the first part of the course, we’ll tell you exactly why developing a route is beneficial to your region and to your customers, and we’ll introduce you to actual business owners within the CCT region who were successful in developing their tourism routes.
When you partner with other like-minded businesses to create a tourism route, several things happen:
- your local competitors become your allies, with whom you can create a critical mass to entice more visitors to come (not to mention return and talk you up to all their friends and family members)
- you extend your social media and word-of-mouth reach for free, since each of you in the route partnership have your own loyal customer base
- you leverage your investments collectively so that you can create economies of scale
- you open up the potential for earned media coverage, since not only does each business on your route have a unique story to tell, your route itself is also a unique story
- you create a strong network of support, share best practices, work towards collective growth and success, and create a new community for yourself that you can rely on.
All of these beneficial aspects of creating a tourism route will be discussed in detail in this course, and our successful businesses will explain what each of these looked like for them when they put their route into action.
Once we’re done showing you why you should create a route, we’ll show you how. Developing a tourism route can be done in just six steps:
- Determine what success will look like for your business
- Analyze your demographics
- Research area businesses to find partners for your route
- Create your first route with interested partners
- Launch your route
- Review and tweak your strategies
We will guide you through each step with in-depth information so that you can make an informed decision for your own business. At each step, you’ll be invited to work through your workbook with questions and considerations that are relevant to you. Remember: we want you to walk away with an actionable strategy for a tourism route, not just a theoretical understanding of one. And of course, our real-life business owners will check in to speak about what the process was like for them as they created their route, to encourage and inspire you on your own journey.
Bonus lesson: All about adding events to your route
Nothing gets the bees buzzing like news of an event. To kick your tourism route up a notch, consider adding route-wide events to your group of businesses. This bonus section will show you why adding events to your route will invite even more visitation—both new and repeat. We’ll explain the different types of events you can try and what the benefits of each are, and also offer tips and tricks to make your route-wide event a memorable and successful experience.
Check out the CCT Learning Lab today and connect with us
So, what are you waiting for? Log in to the Central Counties Tourism Learning Lab today. Create an account if you haven’t already (it’s free!) and get started. When you’ve completed the Tourism Route Development course, consider our other courses: Tourism Ambassador Program, Social Media Marketing, and Tourism Grant Writing Ready.
Don’t forget to let us know what you thought!
Reach out to our B2B Marketing Manager, Sandra Quiteria (squiteria@centralcounties.ca) to share your feedback and insights. And with your newfound knowledge, consider hopping over to social media and posting about your experience. Don’t forget to tag us with @centralcountiestourism (on Facebook and Instagram) or Central Counties Tourism on LinkedIn, too! We love hearing from you.
Want to find out about all the other ways we support our stakeholders? Connect with your regional representative today to start a conversation on how we can work together:
Sara Sterling
Industry Relations Manager – York Region
ssterling@centralcounties.ca
(905) 940-9999 x 7
Lisa John-Mackenzie
Industry Relations Manager – Durham Region
ljohn-mackenzie@centralcounties.ca
(905) 940-9999 x 8
Rebecca Landman
Industry Relations Manager – Headwaters Region
rlandman@centralcounties.ca
(905) 940-9999 x 6
Written by:
Katherine Ryalen
Katherine Ryalen is a freelance content writer, published novelist, and local tourism enthusiast. Connect with her at www.katherineryalen.com, or on social media at @KatherineRyalen.
