Redefining Tourism, Reimagining Stratford January 16 & 17, 2025
This is not your typical community consultation. This is an invitation into genuine conversation and co-creation.
As we said in the 2030 Strategy document, “Positive community impact cannot happen without community involvement. As we have already seen with successful projects like Lights On Stratford and Stratford Al Fresco, it requires many hands and multiple perspectives, as well as effective collaboration and plenty of creativity.”
That has always been our way of working. And this workshop and the actions that flow from it mark a new level of engagement and collaboration.
The Invitation:
You are warmly invited to join a lively workshop to reimagine the future of our community and to redefine the role you, we – and tourism – can play in bringing about positive change. We hope you’ll join this important conversation.
| WHEN: | January 16 | 2pm – 5pm + Lights On Stratford 5pm onward
January 17 | 9:30am – 12:30pm |
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| WHAT: | 2 dynamic half-day sessions facilitated by Destination Stratford Executive Director Zac Gribble and regenerative tourism consultant Michelle Holliday: | |
| Thursday 2-5pm | Redefining tourism | The art of hosting | |
| Thursday 5pm | Reimagining Stratford in a new light | Guided tour of Lights On Stratford | |
| Friday 9:30am-12:30pm | Setting the stage together | Identifying and committing to next steps | |
| WHERE: | City Hall auditorium | |
| WHY: | In Destination Stratford’s 2030 Strategy, we described the vision of the future we want to contribute to:
As a vibrant, year-round cultural destination, Stratford is globally celebrated for its community-wide capacity to generate collective wellbeing. We’ve outlined our own core strategies and commitments. But it’s clear that we can’t make this vision happen alone. It’s something that must be collectively stewarded and cultivated. And so we’re convening key community members to dream, plan and commit to vital actions together. |
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The outcome of our time together will be multiple things:
- Shared understanding and participation around growing a culture of “artful hosting” in service of collective wellbeing in Stratford.
- A core Regenerative Tourism Stewardship Council prepared to meet regularly, to learn together, and to help grow the community’s practice of artful hosting and creative development of new offerings. See pages 30 & 31 of Destination Stratford’s 2030 Strategy for an explanation of what we mean by Regenerative Tourism.
MORE DETAILS: Contact us with specific questions or requests.
RSVP: Please confirm your attendance using this Google Form no later than January 14, 2025.
Pre-Workshop Reflections: Why wait to get the conversation started? Share your thoughts on this Google document about why and how we might redefine tourism and reimagine Stratford together.
Your Facilitator:
Michelle Holliday is a consultant, facilitator, researcher and globally recognized thought leader on the transition to more regenerative systems and structures. For more than two decades, she has supported pioneering, purpose-driven clients across a wide range of sectors, including tourism, agriculture, eldercare and education. Specifically, she has designed and hosted hundreds of strategic conversations, bringing people of diverse perspectives together to uncover shared aspirations, tap into their collective intelligence, and allow innovative responses to emerge.
With a Master’s Degree in International Marketing, she brings a diverse experience base to this work. She spent the first part of her career in brand strategy, working internationally for Coca- Cola and H.J. Heinz. The second part of her career focused on employee engagement and organizational development, consulting for a range of organizations in Washington, DC. Now, after living in 19 cities, including Moscow, London, Paris, New York and a small tourist town in Scotland, she combines organizational strategy, employee and stakeholder engagement, hosting and more in her home base of Montréal and around the world.
Michelle’s research, perspectives and practical experience are brought together in the highly acclaimed book, The Age of Thrivability: Vital Perspectives and Practices for a Better World. She is co-author of Destination Canada’s landmark paper: A Regenerative Approach to Tourism in Canada. She frequently delivers keynotes globally, including two popular TEDx talks. And she has written over 100 articles on themes of thrivability and regeneration.
Sustainability & Tourism
Destination Stratford’s mission is to develop, manage and market Stratford as a globally competitive cultural destination through regenerative, sustainable and socially responsible tourism that improves quality of life and prosperity throughout our community.
Through planning assistance and funding in 2023 through Regional Tourism Organization 4 (RTO4), Destination Stratford completed the Global Destination Sustainability (GDS) Index, with support and input from the City of Stratford, and many local tourism partners that supplied data for the Index. The Index measured 69 indicators across 4 key areas: Environmental, Social, Supplier and Destination Management Performance. At the same time, the nearby communities of St. Jacobs and Elora & Fergus also completed the GDS index. As expected, the participating destinations within RTO4, being new to the Index and quantifying sustainability, all have work to do. Now that all three destinations are in possession of a Sustainability Action Plan, this has enabled a renewed focus and conversations within our communities, and with each other, to embark on improving sustainable tourism within our region. Destination Stratford has a seat on the new Regional Sustainable Tourism Committee, spearheaded by RTO4, that launches in February, 2024.
The Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index) is a destination-level programme that measures, benchmarks, and improves the sustainability strategy and performance of tourism and events destinations. Its purpose is to inspire, engage, and enable destinations to become more regenerative, flourishing, and resilient places to visit, meet, and live in. Unlike other standards and rankings, the GDS-Index was originally created for the events and meetings industry and is the only programme of its type in the world. Since 2020 GDS-Index has integrated leisure tourism into the criteria, making it relevant for all urban business and leisure tourism destinations.
The Sustainability Action Plan includes long term aspirations, action items, required steps objectives, key performance indicators (KPI), targets, timeline and key partners from the following themes: Strategy, Capacity Building, Collaboration, Communication, Governance and Engagement.
READ THE SUSTAINABILITY ACTION PLANAction items include:
- Develop Destination Stratford’s 5-Year Strategic Plan through a sustainability lens, in alignment with City of Stratford’s sustainability and tourism goals.
- Develop sustainable tourism training opportunities.
- Continue to leverage the Stratford Green Recognition Program for the visitor economy in the region.
- Support the creation and collaboration of regional sustainability tourism working group between RTO4, Elora and Fergus, St. Jacobs, and Stratford.
- Develop repository of local sustainable tourism best practices.
- Establish Sustainable Tourism Advisory Committee that is integrated into the development of Destination Stratford’s 5-Year Strategic Plan.
- Establish process to ensure key industry partners (hotels, venues, agencies), visitors and event attendees, clients, key local government departments and the local community are informed about Stratford’s sustainable tourism programs and initiatives; engagement/consultation opportunities; and strategic development process.
Destination Stratford is committed to improving the sustainability of our visitor economy, and to developing new opportunities and partnerships that demonstrably move our community forward with the Sustainability Action Plan objectives and targets.
One item that has already emerged from this work is the inclusion of a tourism category in the City of Stratford’s Green Recognition Program. All local businesses were welcome to apply in the first year of the program in 2023, however, this new category specifically encourages tourism operator applications, acknowledging the importance of the visitor economy for our community and its potential environmental impact. We encourage every tourism-related business or organization to apply in 2024!
2023 Green Recognition Program participants that touch the tourism industry include:
Keystone Hospitality
- Source produce locally and grow some of their own
- Support farms that adhere to sustainable practices
- Focus on bulk sales to reduce paper and plastic packaging material
- Reuse cooking oil as biofuel
- Partnered with local business to reduce packaging waste from takeaway containers
Rotary Club of Stratford
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) recycling program including disposable masks, gowns, head and foot protection, and face shields
- Green Event Program, wherein all fundraising and other events minimize the use of plastic, ensure waste segregation (recycling and organic waste collection) in suitable receptacles
Rosehurst Stratford
- Kitchen garden growing produce including herbs and vegetables for guests
- On-site composting system for food waste, paper and yard waste
- Use of natural water retention techniques and drip irrigation system
- Egg shells used as fertilizer, negating the need to procure synthetic fertilizer
- Phase-out of single use plastic containers for soap, shampoo and conditioner for guests
The Green Hair Spa
- Ongoing waste diversion includes single-use plastics, PPE, excess hair colour waste and hair clippings
- Reuseable and biodegradable foils that are made from construction waste and converted to stone dust at end of life
- Refill and bottle return program for select hair products
The Gentle Rain
- Waste reduction efforts – reduced 4-5 garbage cans to one can per week
- Installed Terracycle boxes to recycle makeup containers, oral health products, razors – blades, handles, tubes & bottles that are not normally recyclable, and all asscociated packaging
- Supply plastic waste (that would otherwise end up in landfill) to a business in New Hamburg to create recycled plastic products such as plastic lumber
Do you want to find out more or get involved in sustainable and regenerative tourism? Let us know!