Unexpected and Inviting

As you drive into Kenora you’ll discover a quaint town situated on the shores of the Lake of the Woods in Northern Ontario. It just takes moments watching the sun shimmer on the lake, the numerous boats cruising on the water and the warm colours of the evening sunset to fall in love with this destination. It typifies the raw beauty of Canada’s wilderness.

There are many destinations that can claim beautiful landscapes, the availability of outdoor activities and the friendliness of the local people so … is there more to say about Kenora here?

Experiential travel is an opportunity to provide visitors with ways to engage with and learn about the people, culture and place through meaningful interactions. Developing purchasable visitor experiences that provide unique, exclusive access to people, places and stories represents an opportunity for businesses in rural communities to layer on new sources of revenue while providing reasons for travellers to stay longer and spend more in the destination.

A short three-day in-community visit to Kenora revealed a variety of engaging entrepreneurs who have interesting stories to tell and are innovating to create unique, local products. These entrepreneurs, their stories, partnerships and products form the foundation of what’s needed to develop new visitor experiences in the community.

Lesley Anderson of the Tourism Cafe has delivered multiple experiential travel training courses in Northern Ontario and we are excited to see where their new strategic tourism directions will lead for product and visitor experience development.