Tourism can sometimes be a tricky business. Most of the time, tourism operators are providing an intangible experience rather than a tangible product. So how do operators create a consistent and engaging experience? How do they market their experiences and to whom? And furthermore, how do you teach these skills to tourism professionals? These are the questions that the Tourism Management faculty at VIU faced. Their solution was to create a new class they called Experiential Product Development.

The instructor of this class decided to challenge the students to create real experiences and contacted several local tour operators to get involved. One such operator was Vancouver Island Expeditions, and we had a few different ideas for new experiences including a day tour to Gabriola Island and creating a farm-to-table series. The students provided enthusiasm, knowledge and hard work to make these projects a reality. We at VI Expeditions were so impressed by the work done that we decided to submit our summer student posting only to the students of this class.

This summer we are happy to welcome Christina to the team, whose group worked on our Gabriola Day Tour. Christina was born and raised in Nanaimo and is currently completing her fourth and final year in the Tourism Management program at VIU. In her spare time she volunteers on the Board of Directors at the Vancouver Island Exhibition and is known to enjoy a glass of wine (or two).