WESTERN RESULTS
Nine out of the 13 states (~70%) in the Western region have faculty or staff who are involved in developing or delivering tourism programs illustrating the importance and value of tourism to the region. The majority (seven out of nine) of these staff spend less than 20% of their time on tourism-related work. Outdoor recreation programming, community planning and destination management are some of the primary focus areas for these programs. All of the programs surveyed agreed they would like to increase staff involved with working on tourism-related projects. Additional program needs identified in the surveys include: economic and technical assessment, outdoor recreation and access to public lands, workforce development and business management training, economic development and rural integration opportunities. Major tourism focus area of these extension programs include:
evaluation; destination marketing, promotion and management; and identification of community tourism assessments. Tourism research being led by Western Extension professionals includes: studies on resident attitudes of tourism, visitor preferences, and economic impact assessments, and a dedicated tourism research centers and programs in Utah (The Institute of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism) Hawaii (Center for Sustainable Coastal Tourism) and Oregon (Guide, Outfitter, Tour Operator Training for Professional- GORP). Four states in the Western region do not currently offer tourism related programming (California, Montana, Arizona and Alaska). These programs have all indicated they are interested in having more faculty or staff involved in developing and/or delivering tourism related programs through Extension. This suggests an untapped potential for expansion of Extension led tourism programs regions- wide. Western regional institutions identified several programs as needed, but ones they are currently unable to provide but wish they could include developing economic assessments, destination management plans, and overall workforce development. These institutions cited a universal need for additional funding and staffing to increase the technical and research capacity to develop and implement these programs. Another consistent need was identified for programs that focus on integrating tourism and outdoor recreation into the economic development plans and programs of rural counties and communities.
• Community and regional planning and development • Destination management plans and impacts of tourism
• Outdoor recreation programming • Tourism research and evaluation (agrotoursim, nature-based, ecotourism, etc.) Challenges identified in the region include funding and staffing for existing programs and the need for better coordination and interconnectedness of national and regional tourism programs. Programming in the Western region is diversified beyond agritourism and outdoor recreation with a variety of programs on nature-based tourism, tourism education and certification, tourism research including socio-economic evaluation of tourism impacts, Community and regional planning and tourism marketing and placemaking. Activities across the region’s Extension Services include support for community and regional planning; programs that address the economic, environmental, and social impacts of tourism; tourism research and
18 Extension Tourism: Impact and Opportunities of Land- and Sea-Grant Programming
extensiontourism.net
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