"Eco-Culture Experience" TM
This entry has been selected as a finalist in the
Geotourism Challenge 2010: Places on the Edge - Saving Coastal and Freshwater Destinations competition.
The goal of CapeRace is the long-term protection of Newfoundland’s living cultures, heritage places, and coastal environment through sustainable adventure tourism in the form of slow, personal, and authentic exploration of coastal areas.
About You
Section 1: About You
First Name
Ken
Last Name
Sooley
Website
Organization
CapeRace Cultural Adventures Inc.
Country
Canada, NL
Section 2: About Your Organization
Organization Name
CapeRace Cultural Adventures Inc.
Organization Website
Organization Phone
+1 647-284-3696
Organization Address
38 Outer Battery Road St. John's Newfoundland
Is your organization a
For‐profit
Organization Country
Canada, NL
Your idea
Name Your Project
"Eco-Culture Experience" TM
Country your work focuses on
Canada, NL
Describe Your Idea
The goal of CapeRace is the long-term protection of Newfoundland’s living cultures, heritage places, and coastal environment through sustainable adventure tourism in the form of slow, personal, and authentic exploration of coastal areas.
Website URL
Would you like to participate in the MIF Opportunity 2010?
No
Innovation
What makes your idea unique and innovative?
We connect travelers with the fierce heart of Newfoundland: the individual characters that know the land and want to share their stories. We accomplish this using two innovative strategies:
First, the traveler is given a key that fits the locks of three newly restored historic coastal homes for their exclusive use. Each is restored to the era of the house so that the traveler is transported back in time and immersed in the local neighbourhood character and culture. Second, we provide them with self-published bookstore-quality guidebook. Based on the premise that the best travel experience occurs when travelers meet locals on their own accord, we write the guidebook in a way that changes the odds and nature of chance meetings. For example, we recommend stopping for supplies in a small coastal town at the 100 year-old general store, but we know its real charm is as a hidden local drinking establishment run by a native octogenarian. Travelers choose whether or not they need to stop for general store-type supplies, creating a unique chance meeting and cultural discovery opportunity. We send travelers to the individuals that maintain a connection to community and the land, those individuals that preserve the wildness of the coast.
Since the guidebook is fluid and customizable, we move destinations and people in and out of the guidebook, creating a less-concentrated travelers footprint that is less intrusive and widens the economic benefits. This is our key to responsible, sustainable travel. The guidebook creates that sense of adventure sometimes lost in large-scale tourism, that opportunity to find one’s inner extrovert and truly connect and invest in a place on a micro and meaningful scale. And at days end, the travelers return to their coastal home, one that immerses them historically and literally in local communities.
Do you have a patent for this idea?
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What impact have you had on your clients and the tourism sector?
Our clients from larger American & Canadian cities have often lost their sense of community and sense of place, and a CapeRace trip leaves with them a heart-felt reminder and understanding of why a community exists. Clients also depart with the urge to make a difference within their own community.
A coast is more than a shoreline: it’s the people and history that been built out of the ecosystem there. Our guests can participate in the budding economic restoration, and subsequent preservation, of the Newfoundland coast and its towns. The reason for the existence of the outport communities has disappeared, and the sense of community has been on the decline with outmigration. Introduction and integration of tourists has instilled a renewed sense of pride in the local coastal communities as locals (re)engage in activities such as fishing, hiking, and participation in social events.
The CapeRace commitment to the host community and the unique cultural experience providers includes financial, corporate and personal support and engagement from buying a seat at a local refurbished theatre to membership in cultural and other industry organizations. We also provide a leadership role as a board and steering committee member in the development of a National Geographic Geotourism Tourism Project for eastern Newfoundland. We developed and maintain partnerships with the city of St. John's, Parks Canada, Prov. of Newfoundland, and many private and NFP organizations. With these partnerships, we are building a brand for Newfoundland as a unique tourist destination.
Problem
In 1992, following three decades of rapid fishery depletion, Canada banned northern cod fishing, and Newfoundland suffered a harsh and nearly complete economic blow. The youth of the island drained to mainland for work, and the maritime culture, including its historic homes, began to collapse. CapeRace Cultural Adventures supports the longevity of this coastal culture by connecting travelers with coastal communities that are firmly rooted by hospitality and exchange. CapeRace hopes to provide travelers with the resources and the time to explore Canada’s most easterly island by supporting individual tour operators, artists, fishermen, and businesses that are all a part of the route of a CapeRace guest. The platform from which to launch successful micro-scale tourism that builds community and preserves coastal NL's land and seascapes is built on the pillars of government, NGOs, communities and businesses. If these disparate groups cannot work together to save the key elements for traveller adventures, the entire platform--with the coastal culture--is threatened.
Actions
-CapeRace partnered strategically with National Geographic, Parks Canada, Provincial Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society to deploy the Geotourism Mapguide program for eastern Newfoundland. We hope to carefully guide the development of tourism in Newfoundland by providing feedback from our traveller and local relationships, and providing an example of entrepreneurial business that feeds other local businesses.
- We provide leadership by demonstrating that restoration of at-risk historic coastal homes can produce profit and positively impact small declining outport communities.
- We restore historic homes threatened by collapse and tear-down.
- We created a customized guidebook that exposes travellers to the back roads, lively music and lifestyles, and unique characters that make the Newfoundland coast worth preserving.
Results
As our forged partnerships mature, local businesses and residents will have identified and inventoried their local tourism assets. In addition, they will have recognized the need for the effective stewardship of these economic assets. In conjunction with the Province's Department of Tourism, regional private sector tour operators and NGO's, they will successfully deliver services to their high-value customers, returning lost capital to coastal villages. Our broad-minded partners and creative collaborative thinking results in growth as a business and develops our business model with flexibility and longevity in mind for the local communities that benefit from tourism. We have preserved six historic homes, and this physical sense of place sets the example for the rest of the community, which can then see the value both economically and culturally of saving their local history. With the customized travel guide recommendations regularly changing, more private sector tour operators, local artists and local businesses benefit, with a net-reduction in the collective traveller's footprint. Finally, travellers take away the experience of genuine connectedness with a coastal culture.
What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Please address each year separately, if possible.
The survival of local coastal culture and heritage is a key success factor for CapeRace and other programs focussing on the experiential travel market. With outmigration and resultant coastal population decline, action is required to hasten commercial focus on community sustainability through tourism. Key contributors to both industry transition and cultural heritage preservation:
(1) Engagement and education of local communities on conservation and tourist asset stewardship on a mass scale. This will be largely accomplished through the deployment of the Geotourism project, driven in part by CapeRace, in eastern Newfoundland in 2011, and in the remaining parts of the island in 2012/2013.
(2) Development and maintenance of key private-public partnerships. Often economic benefits generated by NGO's are unrecognized and under-leveraged. Important archeological and geological research programs taking place around the island are not undertaken collaboratively with the private sector. Understanding the value of these efforts to the tourism industry by all stakeholders will be critical. Simple synergistic packages need to be created that will support the development of emerging experiential travel. CapeRace will focus on the geotouristic integration of business models and practises that draw together NGOs and private sector operators in early 2011, including increased research efforts supporting the custom travel guidebook content. A current day trip recommendation in our guidebook includes visiting an important archeological dig, hiking the coastline to a remote lighthouse, and enjoying a unique casual fine-dining experience on the lighthouse property. Both the dig and the hiking aspects of the day are developed by NGO's. Three-way NGO-private sector collaborations such as this are needed to fully leverage limited coastal economic activity. We will focus on the development of creative packaging of guidebook recommendations over the next three seasons.
(3) Leverage of New Media and its exponential impact on human networking and communications. The internet's transition from being research-based to communications-based will be exploited. CapeRace has made significant investment in information technology and will elevate IT efforts to our number one priority in 2011 with a focus on social media strategy.
What would prevent your project from being a success?
Tourism is in an embryonic stage in Newfoundland relative to the rest of Canada. A historically weak economy, limited immigration and increasing outmigration have been a double edged sword with respect to cultural heritage preservation. It has had a declining effect heritage assets as historic coastal homes, fish plants, churches and other built institutions, but has also contributed to the abatement of cultural erosion as outside influence has been limited when measured against the rest of Canada and the US. The preservation of coastal ecological assets has been exceptional, as the development in remote areas has been limited. If the transition from a fishery-based economy to other industries such as tourism does not happen in a rapid and responsible manner, continued outport population declines will be damaging to the cultural side of our product offering. The key innovation in our product strategy is to deliver both ecological and cultural experiences through non-intrusive local community integration. If we lose the cultural and heritage aspects of the platform we lose a key component of our strategy.
How many people will your project serve annually?
101‐1000
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
$1000 - 4000
Does your project seek to have an impact on public policy or introduce models and tools that benefit the tourism sector in general?
Yes
Sustainability
What stage is your project in?
Operating for more than 5 years
In what country?
Canada, NL
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
Yes
If yes, provide organization name.
CapeRace Cultural Adventures Inc.
How long has this organization been operating?
More than 5 years
Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government?
Yes
Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.
Micro-scale, sustainable tourism is a budding industry in Newfoundland. By partnering with local communities and municipal governments, we are identifying and valuing strategic tourism assets. For the stewardship of these assets, we connect the disparate entities with our local knowledge and motiviation to steer the development of this industry toward cultural and ecological preservation—for without it, we lose our resources.
The short tourist season on coastal Newfoundland dictates a need for high-value tourists in order to support the private-sector business models. With the private sector working in sync with the local communities, provincial legislators, funders, and non-profit organizations, an environment for sustainable prosperity will be created. Success cannot be achieved without the cooperation of all entities. Our National Geographic Geotourism initiative through the community outreach program will bring these groups together.
What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization?
1. Growth in partnership with tourism organizations on the local, national, and international level.
2. Connecting with our target market.
3. Evolving our guidebook to match and meet the needs of both travellers and communities.
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
After an eighteen year absence, my sister and I returned to the remote coastal village of Heart's Delight in Trinity Bay, our father's birth town. As kids we made the long thirty-hour trek in the station wagon to visit our grandparents who lived in a small wooden fisherman's house on the ocean. The defining moment for me was when my father, who had left the town forty years earlier to find his way, passed my sister and I the key. With this came the overriding stipulation that if we did not restore the house he would have it torn down, since its dilapidated state was a growing embarrassment to him within the community. We arrived to find the house still looking beautiful, even in its tear-down state. The pristine setting, the childhood memories, and the reconnection with long-lost family and landscapes motivated my sister and I to carry through with the restoration.
Against all odds, local family restored the house and created a place where we could return. In the process of reconnection I discovered the rich and open culture set in a spectacular undiscovered natural environment, and combination that I have rarely experienced in my travels.
Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.
Ken Sooley is a former information technology executive and has held various business development positions with large and small organizations. In 2004 Ken initiated a career change by creating CapeRace Cultural Adventures. His intent was to test-market a new concept in experiential travel and he continues to manage the company today. On the personal side, Ken is an avid adventure traveller, having spent many days wandering the streets of India and the developing countries of Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe.
Outside of CapeRace Ken has been active in the local Newfoundland community. He has taken a leadership role in the development and implementation of a National Geographic Geotourism Project for eastern Newfoundland, one that was developed by Jonathan Tourtellot, then Director, National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations. Ken has also been supportive of the Bonavista Townscape program, financially supporting the revitalization of the town's historic theatre. In addition, support has been given to the revitalization of the historic Battery area of St. John's, assisting locals who were impacted by storm damage to rebuild their historic and culturally significant facilities.
The Sooley family first settled in Heart’s Delight sometime in the early 19th century. The property that the E. J. Sooley house stands on was originally owned by John Bishop, Ken's great great grandfather. Restoration of these homes and the committed innovation behind the thoughtful travel in Newfoundland stems from the family's deep roots in the land and seascapes.
How did you first hear about Changemakers?
Through another organization or company
If through another, please provide the name of the organization or company
National Geographic
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| caperacebattery.jpg | 67.97 KB |
 | 128 weeks ago Ken Sooley updated this Competition Entry. |
| 129 weeks ago Ken Sooley updated this Competition Entry. |
| 129 weeks ago Ken Sooley updated this Competition Entry. |
| 129 weeks ago Ken Sooley updated this Competition Entry. |
| 129 weeks ago Ken Sooley updated this Competition Entry. |
| 129 weeks ago Ken Sooley updated this Competition Entry. |
| 129 weeks ago Ken Sooley submitted this idea. |
