Spotlight on North Central Programs: University of Minnesota Tourism Center
The University of Minnesota Tourism Center empowers, prepares and supports the tourism industry, and communities engaging in tourism, for success and sustainability. We do this by providing education and training, applied research, engagement and outreach, and support of undergraduate and graduate education. We work closely with businesses, industry organizations, nonprofit entities, and public agencies to meet the needs of the industry and local communities. To strengthen our work, we also leverage resources across the University of Minnesota system, including our Faculty Affiliates, Extension colleagues, and other institutes on campus. One of the flagship programs of the Tourism Center is the Tourism Assessment Program. The program is a deeply- engaged collaboration between a community and a team of experts led by the Tourism
Center staff, to help a community review and analyze its tourism assets and potential for tourism development. The Tourism Center also offers workforce education, from multicultural customer service training to webinar series that nurtures future industry leaders. Another strength of the Tourism Center is focused on consumer intelligence, from working with businesses and communities on using mobile analytics data, conducting profiles of visitors, event attendees, and outdoor recreation users, to selectively pursuing external funding opportunities that would enable the Tourism Center staff to conduct research that meet the industry and communities’ needs. Visit tourism. umn.edu for our information, and/or contact Dr. Xinyi Qian, Interim Director and Tourism Specialist at qianx@umn.edu
University of Minnesota Tourism Center Educator DeeDee LeMier at an agritourism workshop, describing the agritourism definition diagram that appears on the screen behind her. The definition diagram was developed by NET members and collaborators Lisa C. Chase, University of Vermont Extension; Mary Stewart, Oregon State University Extension Service; Brian Schilling, Rutgers University; Becky Smith, Mississippi State University Extension; and Michelle Walk Michigan State University Extension. The definition diagram is available at: https://bit.ly/2ZEbLol Photo credit: Beverly Sandlin, Whispering Winds, MN.
29 Extension Tourism: Impact and Opportunities of Land- and Sea-Grant Programming
extensiontourism.net
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