Message from Tom Ruth, Chair of the interim board

After consulting extensively with its industry partners, the Province has created a new special operating agency - the Nova Scotia Tourism Agency (NSTA) - which signals a change in the way we think about and make decisions regarding tourism. The model is a public-private partnership where industry and government are working collaboratively to ensure tourism helps strengthen the economy and creates jobs.

The NSTA will be an agency of the Department of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism. Its strategic direction will be shaped by an industry board and led by a CEO, who will report to the deputy minister.

During this transition phase, an interim board has been struck to facilitate a long-term tourism strategy that will inform the structure of the permanent agency, and put us in the best possible position to address the challenges we face as an industry.

With this objective in mind, the interim board has set some aggressive goals over the next few months:

1. We will facilitate the creation of a long-term strategy. Through our working committee, we have engaged Bluteau DeVenney and Company, an experienced team that will help us develop our strategic vision as an industry.
2. We will forge a working committee to develop a formal charter for the new agency.
3. Our HR committee is working closely with Knightsbridge Robertson Surrette on a national executive search for a CEO.
4. A working committee is being struck to advise on the appointment of a permanent board, one with the requisite experience and skills to forge a new path for tourism.
5. The 2012 tourism plan was presented by Tourism staff at the TIANS conference. The interim board will continue to work closely with staff from the Tourism division, and other working committee members, to continue to bring that plan to fruition.

We need your help to meet all of these goals.

Bluteau DeVenney and Company has been retained by the Nova Scotia Tourism Agency to facilitate the development of Nova Scotia's long-term strategic plan for tourism. A key component of that process is the gathering of perspectives from a variety of stakeholders, including private industry members, government employees, business leaders and supporting associations. The process will have three key components: the gathering of information, sifting and synthesizing of data for trends and themes, and the development of the plan and resulting action items required to achieve success.

Bluteau DeVenney invites all industry members to complete a survey, and will hold a number of regional focus groups, to garner additional feedback.

We firmly believe that Nova Scotia is a world-class destination with unlimited potential. We look forward to working together with you as we build a new long-term tourism strategy for Nova Scotia. Your thoughts and ideas are crucial to help all of us shape the future of tourism in Nova Scotia.

For more information on the NSTA and the long-term strategy, please view the presentations from the November 2011 TIANS conference. More details can be found in future editions of inTouch.

Click here to view interim board members.