There’s no let-up in the battle for competitive advantage in the global tourism marketplace. So the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) has just released the second edition of its Experiences toolkit to help the Canadian tourism industry keep inspiring travellers to explore our country.

Experiences: A Toolkit for Partners of the CTC (2^nd Ed.) is full of practical advice on how operators can apply the toolkit directly to their business. Canada’s powerful tourism brand, developed by CTC along with industry partners, emphasizes the possible advantages for businesses via close alignment. It also contributed to FutureBrand naming Canada No. 1 country brand in its 2010 Country Brand Index. Our new Signature Experiences Collection^®  is the next stage on that journey, highlighting businesses that provide the kind of hands-on and engaging experiences 21^st-century travellers seek.

TheExperiences toolkit describes for tourism businesses the benefits of experiential travel and how it represents a step beyond traditional tourism products and services. This means changing from traditional to experiential packaging, and truly understanding your best customers. The toolkit walks operators through developing memorable travel experiences, with clear steps and examples illustrating each stage. Telling the story of the experience is another vital ingredient—theExperiences toolkit gives valuable pointers on how to do just that with words, pictures, audio and/or video.

But CTC isn’t the sole narrator: five Canadian tourism businesses explain the success of experiential tourism in their own words. Examples? Find out who the ideal guests are for the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site, NS; how Northern Edge Algonquin, ON, put together its “Quest for Balance” program; and why Shediac Bay Cruises, NB, knows that its experiences benefit other industries.

“We look forward to the innovation this toolkit stimulates, the current practices it validates and the creative product development that will emerge,” says Michele McKenzie, CTC president and CEO, in the toolkit’s introduction. “Together we can welcome the world, increase demand for travel to Canada and strengthen our national brand “Canada. Keep Exploring.””

Download Experiences: A Toolkit for Partners of the CTC (2^nd Ed.)