Getting a new generation of Canadians interested in travel in our backyard

This morning I awoke to find an email from a young French couple in my home inbox. We have taken "Worldwide Workers Opportunities on Organic Farms" (Wwoofers) to help with farm work at our place. This program essentially offers a work exchange program for individuals traveling - we provide food and accommodation and they provide work in exchange.  We've met some incredible folks over the years and I always enjoy the strong bonds we form with the travellers.

This morning, I began to get some ideas as I read the email from the young french couple. They shared with me, their blog that they are keeping while they travel - its called "how we met Canadians".  They are traveling across Canada and using the blog to record their travels and communicate with their social networks back at home.  I enjoyed their images and experiences and of course, got to thinking a bit too.  This is a common practice for travelers now, to use blogs to record and share their ideas. We know that the majority of travel decisions are influenced stronger by word of mouth and "opinion leaders".  If we put these two together, it appears rather obvious that we could be encouraging destination development a bit more by combining these trends.

What if we ran a national campaign that paid all expenses for some young couples or friends to travel across the country. In exchange, they keep a blog and record their observations and experiences.  The campaign could start with a competition to capture interest in the idea and ask for submissions from different sorts of target markets.  Folks could be chosen based on a variety of criteria, including things like: a) personality, b) travel interests, c) talents (photography, writing, cooking, outdoors, etc), and d) experience with social media.  Those who have extensive social networks in place and are recognized opinion leaders could also be sought out to ensure that their experiences travel broadly back to the intended markets. This is not my area of expertise - but we have a whole generation of people who can advise on constucting something that works.

Investing in this sort of campaign would not only be creative, it could also spark an interest in Canadians traveling within their own country - a trend that could have long lasting benefits for tourism in rural areas. It appears to be started with young couples like the ones that contacted us - let's consider incenting it further.