Belly Up...

They say the way to a man's heart is through his belly and I'm pretty sure this might be the case with our tourists as well so this new strategy is probably a very good direction for our tourism industry but it's got to be delivered with quality, service and most important “value”... and with all due respect to our existing operators I believe some of our tradition old favourites like the local lobster dinners have to be revisited and "freshen up" with more ambience as most of them date back to the seventies... dinning at whatever level requires ambience and somehow Government has to also develop a tax incentive or related program for operators to help them remodel and refurbish their dining areas... promoting the Big Four: potatoes, lobsters, oysters and mussels is a great idea but I've often thought that we might be further ahead to leave mussels and oyster off the menu in July as they both seem to be "weak on meat" and aren't always at their best like in the spring and the fall... looking back on last year I still question why our Government spent so much on the "Big Break" and I don't understand why our Minister doesn't come clean and let us know what "return on investment" taxpayers got on this promotion... I suspect until we get a new Minister we'll never know the real cost of the Government run golf courses but I do like our new Culinary theme and my belly is certainly looking forward to it...
Island tourism tries new flavour
Friday, November 27, 2009
CBC News
P.E.I.'s tourism season has ended, but industry officials are busy planning for next year with a food-focused tourism strategy unveiled Friday in Charlottetown.
It will "build on five key tourism priorities, including the growth of the meetings and conventions sector, golf exposure, culinary partnerships, cultural redevelopment and the next phase in the Integrated Tourism Solution [database]," said Tourism Minister Valerie Docherty.
The theme for 2010 is Year of the Culinary and the focus will be on encouraging people to visit the island to enjoy food that's grown and processed locally, officials said.
The so-called Big Four will be highlighted: potatoes, lobsters, oysters and mussels.
Tourism PEI and the Tourism Advisory Council also hope to form partnerships with restaurants, farmers, farmers' markets and accommodations, and produce a visitors' guide to showcase some of those businesses.
Culinary alliance
The culinary alliance will help the development of innovative and sustainable food industry partnerships, culinary experiences and promotional programs, officials said.
It's also expected to increase export sales and help to extend the tourism season into the late fall.
The plan also calls for the expansion of the annual Fall Flavours Festival to try to improve the elusive "shoulder" season.
Kevin Murphy, chair of the Tourism Advisory Council, expects the timing of the launch of the strategy will also help.
"This is only the second time ever that we have been able to bring the annual tourism plan to industry in the fall of the year," he said.
"This joint effort of Tourism PEI and TAC to shift the planning cycle means that industry knows the strategic direction of Tourism PEI coming into the new year and can adapt their own products and marketing to leverage the plan where appropriate."
Golf will continue to be an important tourism market next year, which officials hope to grow through partnerships with the Golf Channel and events such as the International Couples Golf Festival.
The industry also hopes to attract more convention business with the new convention centre, which will double available meeting space, officials said.
The 2010 tourism season will also be the foundation year for the planning and development of a "cultural explosion" initiative, scheduled for 2011.
The Integrated Tourism Solution, which saw the creation of a customer database, rollout of the central reservation system and the first phase of a simplified registration process for operators this year, will continue to be developed.
The 2010 marketing campaign will be launched at the TIAPEI conference in March, officials said.