– Glenn Mandziuk is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association. He can be reached at ceo@totabc.com.
KELOWNA – The Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association is planning a business exchange trip to Southern Queensland Country in Australia and tourism stakeholders have a tremendous opportunity to come along!
Southern Queensland Country shares many of the attributes of the Thompson Okanagan. They are an inland region in Eastern Australia that draws their visitors from two major coastal cities.
They have a burgeoning wine industry, are actively developing first nations products, stage many successful festivals and events and have an incredible Rail Trail product that they are continuing to upgrade to world class standards. Their stakeholder base, like ours, is primarily entrepreneurial and very hard working small business owners and operators
Several years ago TOTA solidified a relationship with the Tourism Authority in this region and CEO’s from both organizations took part in phase one of the initiative which involved an exchange of information travelling and speaking to their respective boards and meeting with stakeholders.
In 2016, employees from both of the tourism offices engaged in a work exchange program and this fall the program will be coming full circle as we offer a stakeholder business exchange tour.
This business exchange is designed to provide Stakeholders an opportunity to meet with like-minded business operators; provide education, information, problem solving opportunities and innovation. It is a chance to stand back and look at how things are done on the other side of the world, compare best practices and share ideas.
In our experience to date there are many takeaways and much to be gained from learning from each other. We can promise there will also be some fun along the way and a chance to get to know the spirit of our good friends and neighbours in the land of Auz…
The “Business On Tour” will take place from November 12th – 21st, 2017 with opportunity to extend your stay on either side. We are working on bringing the full program to participants at a greatly reduced cost with assistance and support from our partners at Air Canada, Southern Queensland Country and their respective tourism stakeholders.
Details for the exchange are being finalized however we encourage you register your interest with us today and we will be in contact with you directly to discuss further.
“We heading to the land down under”…..and we sure hope a number of tourism businesses will join us!