Art, culture, heritage identified as tourism keys

By ROBERT HIRTLE This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it southshorenow.ca

LUNENBURG — Nova Scotians should better utilize their artistic and cultural resources to help overcome the challenges of attracting visitors to the province. That’s the word from Lunenburg Councillor Rachel Bailey who, while serving in the capacity of deputy mayor, recently embarked on a Sustainable Tourism Best Practices Mission to North Carolina. The mission was co-ordinated by the Nova Scotia Department of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism with assistance from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA).

“It was educational for me and inspiring, as well,” Ms Bailey said during a report to council. “The focus was actually on sustainable tourism, and there are, of course, various interpretations of sustainable, and we covered virtually all of them on the trip.”

Ms Bailey said there were three different components of the initiative, and she, along with David John Lobb of the Lunenburg Board of Trade and six others, was part of the economic development and tourism industry representatives. The other two streams of delegates represented included visual artists and artisans and performance artists.

“The intent of this mission was to learn from the best practices of others, and we spent most of our time in the city of Asheville and surrounding area,” she said. “What they do well is protect what is important to them and inviting others to enjoy it thereby generating income and making it sustainable.”

She said the people of western North Carolina have “really come to appreciate that arts and heritage and culture can be preserved, and serve as economic stimuli in the process. “For us this is really valuable information because we seem to struggle with putting a value on arts and culture beyond being fringe benefits,” she said. “They’re nice to have, but we really haven’t bought into the idea that they benefit the economy with real jobs and can help to achieve true financial stability.”

By contrast, Ms Bailey said the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources states that creative businesses and individuals contribute $41.4 billion to the state’s economy and employ nearly 300,000 people.

“So we really can’t afford to discount them,” she added.

Along with the artistic and cultural parallels between Eastern Canada and North Carolina, Ms Bailey noticed another significant similarity, the warmth of its residents towards visitors to their respective areas.

“The people of North Carolina have basically the same kind of down-home, friendly reputation that we are known for here in the Maritimes,” she said. “I really felt very comfortable there. It’s easy to build relationships and learn from one another.”