Experience University Podcast

S5E10: Boosting Tourism Economy with Reagan Ostrander

September 23, 2021 Extraordinary Events Season 5 Episode 10
Experience University Podcast
S5E10: Boosting Tourism Economy with Reagan Ostrander
Show Notes Transcript

We gravitate towards working with urban events however how about bringing it closer to home? Reagan Ostrander talks about the benefits and examples of how rural events boost the economy with tourism. By having the impact and positive outlook for local communities provides a start to build more of a tradition and personalized experience that people can look forward to.

Want a personalized video from me? Rate this podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform, and send a screenshot of your rating to theeventsinitiative@gmail.com to receive a personalized video of me thanking you for your support with a fun message just for you!

Check out all the things we have going on at our page: www.extraordinaryeventsinitiative.com

Keep in touch with us! Follow us on our socials.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com.com/dr.k.events
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eventinitiative
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ExtrEvents
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drkevents

Dr.K: In the intro to events class, students have to show mastery of the design thinking process. Students are able to show this mastery in a variety of different ways, such as designing a training video, a game, or even a podcast. They're able to choose any topic and organize their activity in any way that they want. As long as they follow this design process. These student created podcasts have offered so many insights into what students are thinking and experiencing that I've decided to take two Thursday's a month to feature these works of art. I hope you enjoy today's student created podcast.

Reagan: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the podcast. My name is Reagan Ostrander. And I will be your host today, bringing you some information on the benefits of tourism events in rural areas, the economic boots, and what to be aware of. The concept for this kind of introduction podcast came from so many different things. But I think especially after 2020, and the covid 19 pandemic, we've seen so many decreases, and of course tourism and how events are planned have are executed, and really just trying to get back to ways that we can boost our local communities, our nation areas around us and getting back on our feet, both economically and just socially speaking. So there's a lot of things to talk about today, I'm going to be covering why tourism is good for rural areas, things to be aware of when you're planning your event. So that be local feelings on tourism, cause of the event, how you are can incorporate the authenticity and the localness of your community and share that with the rest of the world. There's a ton of good research articles that I'll be touching on great quotes, on benefits, cons, things to be aware of, if you want to be planning an event, and then also really going into some success story. 

So we'll be talking about Waco, Texas, the increase that they've seen in tourism over the past five years, talking about local Nebraska related things. So whether that be the Nebraska crane migration, Nebraska during the eclipse of 2017, junk stock, all these different events that have really brought an awareness to the new world that we live in, and also to the importance of rural event planning. So you might be wondering, why focus on the idea of rural or smaller town or smaller area events. So, of course, everyone knows the great benefits that these large, well known events can bring to major cities within America and around the world. But reflecting in a new way, whether you're already an event planner, or you're hoping to get into this industry is kind of turning this around and thinking how can I use the resources that I already have, that these rural areas provide? What about the nature whether that be local culture, people ideas, and really utilize that as a way to not only bring people into your area, but to share with them everything that it has to offer. 

So these events can have a huge impact and positive outlook for that community and really start to build more of a tradition that people can look at, in a more personal way. So let's really get into the purpose of this. So how are these events beneficial? Why is tourism increased tourism good for rural areas. So just very Reader's Digest some great impacts is that it boosts the economy, increase sales to local businesses, brings awareness to the areas shows social cultural, sound, local culture, and people with others, and it can build community togetherness. So this is wonderful research our article entitled impacts of small tourism events on rural areas by holding Annamaria Baptista, and a few other writers that I found to some wonderful quotes and that I think can really bring the importance of this to light. So just to begin, they stated that tourism can contribute to economic diversification and profitability by increasing employment, improving basic services and increasing economic equity between urban and rural populations. This is huge, especially after the past two years, all the huge hits that we've seen with COVID-19 with the pandemic with how things are changing economic stability, and improving both employment opportunities for local areas, improving basic services is going to be a wonderful impact on that rural communities rural community rural tourism events is certainly not a new idea. However, I think bringing perspective to it and bringing awareness to it will hold a great impact in the future of these events and the planning for it for the communities. 

So within that same research article that I discussed just a minute ago, they referenced Kotler who talks about how small and rural communities can use festivals and events to reap the same benefits that large communities do when they have huge events. So there's also a great discussion of sustainable tourism and the fact that these small events require a little investment to develop because the needed infrastructure already exists. So this is going to play a huge role in especially environmental impact dimensions. But even in the three event impact dimensions that were discussed, which is economic and social, cultural and political, and that environmental, so national parks will see a huge benefit in this for those local events, those rural events that bring tourists in and increase that local community awareness and also economic benefit.

Now, when you are creating a rural event, or actually holding one, there are a ton of things that you need to be aware of, to avoid any negativity surrounding it. So while these can really build community togetherness, and create new jobs, it is so important to understand the locals feelings on tourism, and the locals feelings on that event. Is it representing them how they would like to be is it bringing in the types of people that they would like to share their community with? Is it authentic to the culture, to the vibe to the people of the community. So knowing the locals feelings, and including them in the process is going to be greatly to your benefit if you want to be holding a rural or a smaller community event.

Another thing to really consider is the cost of that event. So every event comes with costs as a planner, you're going to have to consider these. And while they can reap so many economic benefits, you also have to take into consideration the cost of travel, the cost of food of preparation, and the cost of lodging for the attendees to your event. So just some things to really consider to get a good grasp on and to make sure that you research before you go through with the actual planning and hosting of the event. Another incredibly important aspect to hit on is this idea has grown so strongly the past few years, and both the tourism and the event industry, which is sustainable green tourism. So making sure that your event will not do any harm environmentally is sustainable over time, if you'd like to repeat it in the future, and can be something that will not cause any damage to any environmental local community wellbeing, but instead to celebrate it and create a long lasting positive benefit. For us this podcast, I would love to talk about some success stories that we've seen, nationally and locally within the idea of rural events and rural tourism. So we're going to talk about first Waco, Texas, which you might not consider to be a rural area, but the population is only 135,800 about which is 1/4 the size of Omaha, Nebraska for reference, so it is considered a smaller town. You may recognize the name of it from chip and Joanna Gaines and the show fixer upper. And we are going to be talking a lot about them and what they've done to impact their local community and bring in immense amounts of economic benefit tourism and event wise so not only in So do they only refurbished houses within Waco, Texas to build their local community and the prosperity of it. But in 2014, they opened up Magnolia market at the silos, which has brought in 1.6 million tourists your way. And according to research, the tourism in Waco, Texas has quadrupled since 2014. Now, not only has that created immense amount of economic benefits, but chip and Joanna Gaines employ more than 600 people within the silos so that has brought so much job opportunity and has lowered the unemployment rate to 3.2%, which is loss in the state and the national average. Not only have the silos and the events that it brings, brought so much life to waco but it's created so many more opportunities for restaurants and local businesses, as well as a new increase in need for lodging so there's so many more Airbnb is being built. There's so many more ways for people to bring in business and boost that economic benefit through lodging through food and everything else that comes with events and tourism. Not only that, but it has also benefited Baylor University which is located there. From this example alone, you can see how events or tourism driving events within rural areas or a small town considered population wise, like waco can benefit not only the individuals who plan and create those events, but the community as a whole

Moving into more localized examples of rural events that have created mass amounts of impact, event wise and tourism wise would be the 2017 solar eclipse that so happened to have the greatest view from Nebraska. So this is a great reminder to utilize the natural resources and environmental events to create an event on top of that to boost your local tourism, your local event benefit on the website for the great American Eclipse and the research done for it. It stated that Nebraska is the closest destination for 33 million Americans to be able to witness this and that the actual estimated visitation for it was between 117,460 6000 people. And within those people that visited Nebraska for this event included Bill Nye the Science Guy which is a huge name in the science community, recognized by children and adults, and brought such a boost to economic benefits for travelers for lodging for restaurant owners, within Lincoln and in the more rural areas of Nebraska.

Another great example of rural tourism events in Nebraska is in Carney, Nebraska, the annual Sandhills crane migration that happens in the spring between March and April normally brings in 42,000 people and this year with COVID and restrictions regarding that they're actually expecting more people to be attending because it's kind of an on your own event. The carny Visitors Bureau director shared that normally they bring in about $14 million to their economy in the six week period that these events occur. All of these examples of rural tourism events show that you can use sustainable tourism sustainable event planning and still greatly benefit economically locally, community wise, the places around you by utilizing the resources that are placed in front of you. An important takeaway from this podcast should be that while the examples I provided are bigger events, it does not have to be that way for rural tourism events. It can be something as small as camping or hiking events, something along the lines of building wedding venues, utilizing the fact that people love traveling to vineyards to the outdoors, just in nature in general. Concluding all of this really does take into consideration if you are an event planner, if you'd like to get into this industry, utilizing sustainable green event planning and tourism. All of these can reap the benefits of economic boost local boost, sharing of culture and identity of your local community. And then also just really bringing everyone together and boosting community wellness. Thank you so much to everyone for tuning in and listening today. That's all that I have for you on how rural events can boost tourism and overall wellbeing.