Cruise: Shore Excursions and City Programs - New England States

October 25th - October 29th

Participants will visit port destinations that have been successful in engaging the local community with the industry to offer revenue generating, market-ready experiences/opportunities for the ports. The focus will be on learning how local operators maximize the economic potential of the growing cruise sector by using effective shore excursion marketing/programming to reach the incoming traffic from cruise ships. The visited destinations will be continually developing and improving products.

Learning objectives for ths mission include:

How regional ports effectively market to cruise lines
How to develop attractions to increase the number of ship visits
To learn about strategies to involve local businesses in accommodating cruise passengers
To understand what cruise companies expect from ports and how do ports ensure they are meeting expectations.
To learn about what marketing practices work for ports and how to go about finding valuable ways for unpaid advertising.
To document successful practices at ports in this region that could have potential relevancy to the Atlantic Canada cruise industry.
Discuss innovative ideas on design and functionality of tour terminals that accommodate and promote shore products.
Learn about marketing and funding partnerships
Understand how small communities go about product development and sustainability
To gain insight into how successful projects/attractions have been planned, set up, and how they are operating sustainably. To gain insight into growing new markets and promoting to them; to have fruitful discussions with peers and potential partners leading to further understanding of successful product identifying and developments.
To experience firsthand, trends and best practices in areas such as developing experiences to expand to new markets, and repositioning to target upcoming audiences.
To obtain a better understanding of what other locations are doing to enhance their area and provide a unique experience for the visitor
To learn about how to implement incentive programs for service, unique product or service positioning relative to competitors, and gain insight into methods for achieving considerable partnering opportunities.
To learn of methods and new ideas that are there for developing a high quality tourist destination based on experiential products, particularly with culture and herita
How proper programming and planning with shore excursions and attractions increase visitation and development in Atlantic Canada destinations.