By Patti Balsillie, CAE, EQAT November 19, 2015 Sharing Our Stories: Developing Cultural Tourism in First Nations Communities Conference

* The Jigsaw Puzzle of Tourism * Cooperation in Action * Role of Standards * Yukon’s BMT * Distribution Channels to Customers * Innovation through Collaboration * Enterprise Clustering * Lens on Yukon * Group Activity

Changing trends are constant in target markets Seasonality of demand Weather is unpredictable Consumer expectations vary Longer-term market development High fixed costs Cooperative nature of competition…. Focus today is on Collaboration

Acknowledgements * Long Ago People’s Place celebrating 20 th Anniversary this past summer * Shakut Tun Adventures on Christmas Bay Common principles – passion, vision, culture, networks, building experiences with community, diversity of markets, CAFN support…..

* Standards in the tourism industry play a big role * Manage and deliver expectations as promoted in marketing * Consistency of brand promise in destination * Ensuring that safety and integrity are in place for guests and suppliers * Provide consumer and trade confidence * Supports supplier, destination, DMO, region, Nation and more

* Yukon’s Business Market and Trade Standards (over 10 years ago) * Used to determine tourism businesses eligible to leverage the TCMF or other marketing programs * A tool to assess readiness to the travel trade and international trade shows * A benchmark for suppliers to aspire to in business development

Business Ready: * Maintain good standing of all applicable licenses, insurances and legislative requirements (WTL, CRA, YG, etc.) Market Ready: * Have marketing materials * Maintain hr response time to inquiries and 24 hr’s to booking requests * Provide a contact number or year-round * Have a published consumer billing, payment and cancellation policy

Meet all MR standards and…. * Have published trade-oriented billing, payment and cancellation policy for groups and FIT bookings * Have been MR for at least one year or have a proven track record working with the travel trade previously * Offer wholesale (net) rates to receptive/inbound tour operators throughout a negotiated time period and provided within at least one year in advance of the selling time period – guaranteed.

Yukon’s communities are rich in stories, culture, people, art, craft, wilderness, recreation and more. * Choosing to be ‘in tourism’, to build a business and to become Market Ready is a big commitment, over a longer-term time period that can require big financial investments How can we take all the amazing experiences, products and stories from our communities to support economies and jobs from tourism? * Let’s talk innovation….

* Through a community/stakeholder planning retreat and process, the ATSI community came together to discuss tourism, development and how to balance western enterprise practices with aboriginal values – to deliver a value-driven, sustainable, job creating tourism industry October 2014 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, Australia

1. Formalize the cluster 2. Be a community 3. Infuse cultural protocols in the business model 4. Deliver what you know best 5. Leverage tourism infrastructure 6. Embrace values of culture 7. Work towards financial independence

Operators * Clustering is a challenge but rewarding because you look after one another – together Government Agencies * Integrate aboriginal tourism clusters into destination development Policy Makers * Provide programs that support long-term needs of Aboriginal Tourism clusters

To Recap: * Learned about Cooperation * Standards * BMT * Pathways to Consumers/Visitors * Enterprise Clustering * Table Discussion….

Gunalchîsh ! Másį Qujannamiik Merci Thank you

Market and Trade Ready Project: * Delivering on Expectations * ATSI Enterprise Clustering: * rep.com.au/resource/MainSummary_AboriginalTorresStraitIslanderPrinciplesEnter priseClustering.pdf rep.com.au/resource/MainSummary_AboriginalTorresStraitIslanderPrinciplesEnter priseClustering.pdf Navajo Arts and Cultural Enterprise (NACE): * Patti Balsillie, CAE, EQAT (867)