Tourism leaders meet
Aroostook County summit well attended
LITTLETON, Maine — Aroostook County business, economic and municipal leaders gathered at the Southern Aroostook Agricultural Museum on May 20, 2016 to brainstorm marketing goals for the region.
“We have had very good attendance and lively, creative discussion,” Alain Ouellette, planning and development division director of the Northern Maine Development Commission said during the lunch break. “This is a great opportunity for the Maine Office of Tourism to outline its plans for marketing in the next year.”
Ouellette said the questions asked by the roughly 20 attendees not only focused on their own tourism enterprise, they also centered on what they could do to grow The County as a whole.
“There is a real spirit of collaboration here,” he said. “It is not just ‘me’.”
According to a new report from Aroostook County Tourism, which sponsored the gathering, the target audience for tourism is mainly from the northeastern United States, Atlantic Canada, and Quebec, per research conducted by the Maine Office of Tourism.
Plans for increasing tourism include pursuing a major overhaul of the Aroostook County visitors guide, continued growth online and in social media, and a presence at more trade shows to advertise what Aroostook County has to offer.
Carolann Ouellette, director of the Maine Office of Tourism, said she felt that the attendance level showcased how involved people are in improving tourism in The County and bringing in new ideas each year to bump up tourism numbers.
“This is one of the few of the eight tourism regions that has a summit like this, and I really enjoy coming to it,” she said. “People here are invested in their communities and in making The County as a whole grow.”
