Today I am delighted to post an interview with Tom Wilson, Director of Recreation & Tourism for the Municipality of Victoria County, and Project Co-ordinator for Broadband Solutions for Rural Development.

Tom was kind enough to answer a few questions about his dynamic organization, and he offers some interesting perspective about e-marketing in the travel space.

Enjoy.

Tom, your tourism portal for Victoria County, Nova Scotia is a wonderful resource for operators. You have programmed so many practical tools in your suite of services.

1) Can you give some background or motivation as to how, or why you have developed such a hands-on resource?

TW: Good Research & data has to be the basis for making smart decisions. I wanted to provide the tourism industry in Victoria County with important stats and research to help them make informed & knowledgeable decisions. The portal has expanded over the years to include news, marketing, product development, training and now technology tools. I have included International Tourism News from countries such as New Zealand and Australia as they bring to the table new perspectives & ideas, innovated concepts and interesting web sites designs to attract visitors.

2) Your podcasts with e-marketing experts such as the Tourism Industry Association of NS and A Couple of Chicks e-marketing are a terrific idea. What has been the response from your constituents?

TW: A colleague of mine, Gerard MacNeil and myself developed a project called Moving Forward with New Media. Thanks to him and his staff, I was able to venture into this form of New Media – Podcasts. It has been a great learning experience and valuable one. The response to podcasts has been very favourable and I plan to continue to offer them monthly or more frequently.

3) You maintain an excellent blog on the Tourism Victoria site. Are you the editor of the blog? If so, can you offer some background as to why you started the blog?

TW: Yes, I am the editor of the Tourism Victoria County Blog. I guess I can thank Patricia and Alicia of A Couple of Chicks E-Marketing for helping me venture into this field. Alicia sold me on blogs and social media during her visit to Nova Scotia in April with NS Masterclass series. Blogs provide an excellent forum to share information with others in a brief but to the point format. Tourism VC blog also assists in driving visitors to my tourism portal. I find most of my relevant information in tourism via blogs today. It has become my news channel.

4 ) Would you give us some thoughts about the “state of the province” of online marketing adoption in Nova Scotia? What do think are the opportunities for your constituents moving forward?

TW: The Nova Scotia Dept. Of Tourism has taken great strides with its Google Earth adoption, short videos and its sample, lure and buy strategy in 2007 for www.novascotia.com . Much of this can be attribute to my colleague and fellow Canada E-Tourism Council member – Tanya MacLeod. Many in the tourism industry have embraced on-line marketing thanks to training received from Susan Sweeney BootCamp, NS Masterclass Series – A Couple of Chicks E-Marketing, TIANS, Tourism Technology and many more. We are not however at 50% level yet with on-line booking nor are offering high-speed internet at all accommodations for visitors and targeting & tracking e-marketing. But Nova Scotia is moving forward on all fronts and should reach a number of goals & objectives within two years. E-Marketing and social marketing are evolving all the time. Will we ever catch up ? I don’t know but it is important to be in the game and playing it. There are plenty of opportunities for tourism operators to reap the benefits of e-marketing and to track its campaigns.

5 ) Finally Tom, would you like to share what you hope to get out of the Canada-e-Connect conference program?

TW: Be a part of developing a national strategy – E-Tourism for Canada, meet & network with colleagues across Canada, learn and share experiences on new media & emerging technologies. Come back with new ideas to implement in my region and make us a leader in e-marketing. .

6 ) Any other comments about Canada-e-Connect, or e-marketing in general?

TW: The E-Tourism Council is a wonderful initiative and I see a lot of benefits coming when the strategy is developed and implemented. There are a number of success stories in the travel industry that can be champions and help the industry grow further with Canada’s e-Tourism strategy .ie. Hello BC Travel Blog, CTC travel Blog, Nova Scotia’s sample, lure, buy strategy and much more.

Tom C. Wilson is a graduate of Dalhousie University with graduate work at University of North Texas. He has a Certificate in Leading Innovation from St. Mary’s University, Certificate in Tourism Destination Management from George Washington University, as well Certificate of Community Economic Development from NSCC. He is currently the Director of Recreation & Tourism for the Municipality of Victoria County.

Mr. Wilson is the Project Co-ordinator for Broadband Solutions for Rural Development, Victoria County’s Broadband Project, bring Broadband to 90 plus rural communities. This 6 million dollar project will make the County one of the most connected counties in the world. 85% of the project is completed with the balanced to be done by early 2008. Victoria County has also invested in Broadband Applications with two projects - Enhancing Tourism with Broadband and Moving Forward with New Media.

Mr. Wilson has over twenty-five years of experience working with community groups, public agencies & businesses in rural communities and has extensive experience in project management. Former chair of the North Shore Learning and Enterprise Centre & Victoria County CAP Sites Association, and former member of the Provincial Tourism Task Force for E-Marketing. Nominated by his peers for the National Community Achievement Award with CANARIE in 2004 and TIANS Technology Awards in 2001 & 2006. Member of the Nova Scotia Provincial Broadband Advisory Committee.

Would you like to be featured in an interview? Let me know!