Partnerships strengthen industry.

The North of Superior Tourism Association (NOSTA) is working toward developing a good "menu of opportunities" for industry and municipal partners who rely on tourism as their bread and butter.

With the strong financial support of the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corp. (OTMPC) in the form of a $100,000 contract fee for service for delivering of OTMPC programs, the organization has been bringing together industry and municipal partners together on a number of initiatives, says NOSTA executive director Bruce Fallen. Their goal is to increase awareness of the various tourism products there are in the NOSTA region.

Ted Day, OTMPC northern tourism marketing director, says his organization relies on the efforts of Northern Ontario's six tourism associations like NOSTA as "regional experts" to deliver the OTMPC's programs most effectively.

"What it does is give the benefit to all of the NOSTA members to participate in provincial programs," he says.

"What we want to do is find out what their needs are and respond to those needs with effective programs," says Fallen. "NOSTA is working in partnership with municipal governments to provide effective programs to market our region's tourism."

Among the actions already taken include advertising in a number of targeted publications, and "familiarization" tours for travel writers and travel tourism industry representatives from outside the area. NOSTA has also advertised on behalf of its partners in the Ontario Tourism publication that is distributed to travelers who inquire about travel opportunities in Ontario to the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Recreation, and in the Snowmobile Paradise Ontario Guide.

NOSTA can also list its members on Ontario Tourism's Web site, he says.

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What is being done is part of an effort to pursue a new partnership development strategy to expand those opportunities.

"It's kind of an interesting way of doing it," says Fallen. "Rather than a large membership fee, there is a small membership fee and that unlocks the door into our opportunities. We feel we're giving people value and they're seeing value in those opportunities."

Business consultant Dennis Forbes of Dennis A. Forbes and Associates has been charged with the task of developing that strategy.

"What we're trying to do is work on the development of a partnership strategy to work out how the North of Superior Tourism Association will work with some of its partners," Forbes says. "The idea is to identify how the association will work with each and every sector in order to move the association forward. The idea is to say, "How can we make the association stronger and give each member in it a say in how programs are delivered?" It is to have a strong association that can deliver programs across the region and to attract more visitors."

Co-operation may not seem like a natural activity among businesses that are trying to attract the same market, but Forbes says the goal is to attract visitors to the region, and once they are there, let the visitors make up their own minds about where they want to go.

By working together within a strong association, the industry itself is strengthened, he says.

"Basically, the goal of the association is to become self sufficient; to get all the parts working together to make sure the message they send out is a strong one," says Forbes. "You want to get the information out there to people and in such a form that people can access it, and from there, make their decision. But you don't want everyone to be fragmented. By working together, everyone wins."

Forbes says the association was originally a membership-based organization. That structure will remain, but the primary purpose to the organization now is to provide a coherent direction.

"I've been working closely with the (NOSTA) executive and the board to make sure that the structure we develop meets with everyone's ideal," Forbes says.

A draft of the partnership plan was out before the executive in early February, with final comments expected by the end of the month. The long-term goal is to have NOSTA as a self-sufficient body working with all its partnership to deliver a strong message of what is available in the region.

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www.nosta.on.ca