Step 3: Developing your tourism offer
This section of the toolkit is about how to create a great outdoor experience that is worth travelling to and paying for.
Things that can make your experience world-class are:
- The uniqueness of what you offer
- Harnessing the power of your landscape
- Good local stories incorporated into the experience
- Aligning with our Northern Ireland - Embrace a Giant Spirit
brand (see Step 1)
How to stand out
Exercise 3A
Your outdoor experience needs to stand out. In some places it may have to attract people to travel to the area. In areas where there are more activities on offer, it must rise above the competition.
In either case, a successful visitor experience must be special, unusual and if possible unique. You need to capitalise on what you do exceptionally well and that others cannot easily replicate.
For many outdoor experiences in Northern Ireland the location and landscape can enhance the unique quality, sometimes beyond the activity type itself.
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How to find and tell your stories
Exercise 3B
Visitors have always enjoyed exchanging stories. Well-told tales are a great way to connect with a place quickly.
Informal chats with local people that include stories about local characters and places can be one of the most memorable aspects of a trip. Outdoor activities such as walks, kayaking, boat trips etc. can be an excellent backdrop for conversation. Use these opportunities for storytelling which should appear spontaneous, even when it is not.
Telling stories requires practice. Watching your audience carefully and responding to what interests them is the best way of deciding which stories to tell and how to tell them. Changing the stories is good practice and helps you to keep your delivery fresh.
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Find your stories, identify what you can say and how. Consider:
For more on storytelling in outdoor experiences see: 'The incorporation of storytelling' |
Ideas to inspire
When defining the big idea, you need to consider the whole offer from a visitor’s perspective. Make sure some of the following themes and services are included within your idea.
They may appear in your idea through working with others, or they may be more core to your own idea. You might link these into your idea to develop more authenticity and personalisation.