The booth featured several scenic shots from Kings County, a video presentation about the municipality and a lobster trap to help catch attention. Parker says if a similar mission were held next year, he would love to take along Honeycrisp apples.
He says the trip was anything but a paid vacation for delegates: all worked non-stop the entire time.
Parker believes a similar initiative would be less expensive next time around, considering the booth and a lot of the promotional materials have already been produced.
Kentville Deputy Mayor Bill Boyd, who visited the booth with his family while on vacation, says he was only there for a brief period but the booth seemed busy. There were some attractive displays that certainly depicted the county, including its agricultural and wine industries, and the scenic photos slide show was well done.
“You can’t promote Kings County without promoting the towns,” he says. The booth seemed like a good initiative, and Boyd says it was great to see something from home at the event.
Tourism statistics for our province for June show visits from Western Canada are down 11 per cent year-to-date. Parker says these stats have been influenced by tough economic times in Alberta, but things are starting to bounce back. He says people from Western Canada are going to travel: the question, is where are they going to go?
During a summary presentation to his colleagues at the August council session, Parker made several recommendations, including creating a quarterly newsletter in cooperation with the Kings RDA using the Stampede database. He suggested pursuing the project again next year. Although it could be another venue, he said he’d recommend going back to Calgary: “there’s money out there and you don’t need a passport.”
He recommended increasing the delegation from four members to at least five. Other Kings municipal units could be asked to participate.
Parker recommended making one of the prizes an all-inclusive one-week trip to Kings for two people. By getting business sponsors on board, this could be accomplished with little cost. He recommended re-designing the booth concept as well.
• To watch a video with Parker discussing the mission, visit www.NovaNewsNow.com (www.kingscountynews.ca)
Not the right venue
Parker spoke against a recently proposed economic development mission to China, but points out it isn’t China he’s opposed to. He says it simply wasn’t the right venue, and the purpose of the invitation was to find investors for economic development projects in China. It would have cost the municipality about $6,000 to send two delegates. The host would have covered all accommodation expenses while in China.
But Parker says the two-day time frame wasn’t long enough and it would have been a “total junket” - not designed in any way to help Kings County, Nova Scotia or Canada. He asks where are the measurable results from two prior trips to China: there has to be a purpose to these missions.
Canada is a preferred travel destination in China, so any mission there should focus on tourism organizations so we can tell them what we have to offer. Parker believes a mission of this sort should come on a provincial initiative.
Looks like a trip Mr. Parker enjoyed as he's a former resident of Calgary. What a waste of money!!!