Re-inventing a geotourism destination in Nova Scotia, Canada

We want to thank the judges very much for their comments and confidence. With regards to the question about social impact:

The most obvious answer is that we have an impact on our guests, through guided or unguided nature experiences, cooking lessons, and giving them a chance to experience the unqiue environment the Lodge inhabits.

Beyond this, as a small business, Trout Point both acts as a prominent model (see below) and does whatever possible to have direct social impact beyond our property boundaries. Given Trout Point's location within the core area of the Southern Nova Scotia Biosphere Reserve and the province's most densely francophone municipality, there are two or three definable communities that we interact with and try to affect on a day to day basis (beyond our guests): 1. The Acadian community 2. the local, Kemptville/Yarmouth County community 3. those concerned with and active within the management of the Tobeatic Wilderness Area and the Biosphere.

First, we take our environmental committments seriously and have implemented strategies—both in building and operations—to reduce consumption and minimize or elminate negative environmental impacts. As a 5 Green Key property, we are a model for other projects in the way that we operate and seek to improve operations. Our guests have unique experiences, learn about some alternative ways of living, cooking, or travelling, and learn to appreciate the Acadian Forest ecosystem, with its scrubby pines, spruce trees, diverse lichens, Indian Pipes, Lady Slipper orchids, and peat-stained rivers. We have been held up as a model enterprise by the Hotel Association of Canada, by tourism strategy reports prepared by the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia, and increasingly in the media, like Greenopia.com and the Globe & Mail newspaper.

Our local employees and vendors benefit economically, with the number of local employees expanding every year and on-the-job training expanding their possiblities. For the minority Acadian French community, we publicly promote the importance of Acadian cultural heritage, we participate in events such as the International Acadian Festival of Par-en-bas, and make donations of time and resources; we help create links and communication between Louisiana Cajuns and local Acadians, and we serve these communities with products and resources. In terms of the local village of Kemptville, our primary impact is through a policy of hiring of locals and the creation of a destination—helping to invigorate a backwoods area in economic decline. These are areas where we can have a direct impact on society, with direct influence and weight.

With the broader social group of those concerned with the Biosphere & the wilderness, we seek out alliances, endeavor to move projects forward, and support the efforts of others whenever possible. First, it's important to realize that the Tobeatic Wilderness Area is the largest single protected area in Atlantic Canada but has virtually no touristic significance for tourism authorities. The Tobeatic lies at the pristince core of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, which has existed since 2001. The entire Biosphere area covers an astounding 1,546,374 hectares, with core areas of 141,900 hectares. Trout Point has thus been a geographical pioneer at the “centre of things,” even though peripheral in terms of population centres and communities.

We host meetings, give donations, and work on implementing projects like the first managed trail system in the Wilderness Area. Groups involved have included the Nova Scotia Department of Environment, the Ecology Action Centre, the Sierra Club, Destination Southwest Nova Scotia, local politicians, and the local Yarmouth & Acadian Shores tourism authorities. Here we seek to have input into policy decisions and to work cooperatively towards common goals for public good, like the trails project. Notably, just as the Geotourism finalists were announced in July, the local Biosphere Reserve Association—inactive for many years-- announced new federal funding, and has invited Trout Point to have more input into a sustanable tourism strategy for the Biosphere, including a likely seat on the Board of Directors.

Thus our social impact is on 2 or 3 levels, and we endeavor to operate on all these levels in some meaningful way that goes beyond many other small enterprises.

3 in marketing, seek a “hook”—something to make your project special or unique and work hard at perfecting and promoting it & making it sustainable. Though we had run a restaurant and loved food, we had never before cooked for large numbers, let alone offered cooking classes. However, relying on our Louisiana heritage, we knew the importance of food and the growing public interest in learning about food origins, tecniques, and cooking styles. Trout Point's Food Learning Vacations commenced the day the Lodge opened in July, 2000, and have grown more succesful every year. More than any other factor in our early years of operation, the uniqueness of the cooking vacations garnered the Lodge attention & publicity. We worked hard on perfecting our offerings, and increasingly included field trips to local food destinations as part of the experience. Through visits to Nolan D'Eon's Eel Lake Oyster Farm (http://ruisseauoysters.com/), for example, participants not only learn about sustainable shellfish production, but also gain insight in the Acadian French community of which Nolan and the Ruisseau Oyster form part. The cooking programs drew positive press, and without this unique offering, for the travel media Trout Point may have been just another lodge somewhere in Canada.

5. make a virtue out of those inputs—for you and your guest/clients. Remember to celebrate your geo-touristic uniqueness and create virtues out of that which is local and distinct. In addition to decoration and construction mentioned above, use of local resources extends to foodstuffs and cuisine. Trout Point celebrates the local seafood catch, and designs fixed menus around what is fresh and available. Monkfish, considered a lowly catch by local fisherman, is an esteemed delicay in Europe and Trout Point guests love knowing their meal was prepared from scratch using local ingredients. The fact that the Lodge is remote, blends seemlessly into its environment, has no cell phone reception, and no televisions becomes a huge plus for those seeking to relax and forget about the cares of the outside world. Another small example: this year we began to use locally gathered or grown plants, ferns, flowers, etc. to form rustic bouquets that replace the expensive European chocolates we used to use for turn-down service in the Lodge, leaving a little sample of local beauty on the pillow each night.

1.Use a core-periphery approach to problems, purchasing, hiring, and promotion—be informed. One fundamental assumption of any small enterprise like Trout Point that become a destination is that the project express a sense of place based on the core locality, but that this core exists within a situation where peripheral areas inform the enterprise. Any tourism project speaks of travel, distance, familiarity and strangeness. Therefore sustainable and appropriate solutions must involve more than just the local, but the question is how and to what degree. To put it in the language of this competition, there is not just the place, there must also be the power of the place. At Trout Point, the owner-managers are not local, but this lent critical perspective to the project. Tourists are by definition not local, but come from varying levels of periphery—the province, the Maritimes, Canada, the U.S., the U.K, Europe, Austral-Asia. The core nourishes and defines sense of place, but the periphery also makes demands. When Trout Point hires non-locals it's usually because they have a specialty not available locally, but they will then bring enhanced knowledge to our local staff and guests. We have found that core staff simply must come from the core local area. In marketing and promotion, pay attention to all levels: local, regional, national, and international. Each place or market will have special demands or interests in what is local, a project's unique offering that speaks of place. For many Europeans, Trout Point offers the quintessential Canadian experience—the backwoods, real & rustic. For Nova Scotians, the draw may be the cuisine, with familiar ingredients prepared in new ways informed by Acadian, Louisiana or European style. For Americans, it may be the idea of a romantic escape in an exotic, but not so distant or unfamiliar world. New experiences combined with comfort is important to all. In marketing you perhaps have no desire to reach all levels of the periphery surrounding you, but knowledge of where your core destination experience fits within the rest of the world is important. You must make informed purchasing decisions based on the experience offered; local is not always good, the best, or even possible. We confront challenges with regards to purchasing every day in terms of food & wine, machinery, soaps, linens, decorations, which repair person to hire, etc. As destination, knowing your place in the world—in terms of hierarchies and peripheries-- will help to decide which elements of the guest/tourism experience matter in terms of geotourism values.