Tourism Cares
Awards $10,000 Grant to Blackstone Valley
Published on: May 5, 2008
Tourism Cares, a non-profit group dedicated to promoting responsible
tourism within the tourism industry, awarded $10,000 to the Blackstone
Valley Tourism Council's Sustainable Tourism Planning and Development
Laboratory to help fund its second civic tourism conference. The Tourism
Cares/Collette Vacations Special Grant funding has been partially
matched by the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities. Titled Civic
Tourism II: Defining and Animating Whole Places, Blackstone Valley
Tourism Council's three-day civic tourism conference in October 2008
will shuttle more than 250 nationwide travel industry professionals
among various New England communities and demonstrate how creating a
geographic "place" for travelers provides both economic and cultural
benefits.
The Tourism Cares grant will assist in covering the expenses for the
conference. The project is grounded in Tourism Cares mission, which
includes encouraging sustainable, responsible tourism, according to
Bruce Beckham, executive director of Tourism Cares.
Civic tourism seeks to change the purpose of tourism, making it into
a tool the public can use to conserve and enhance a locale. By creating
an inspiring experience for travelers, communities can work to preserve
culturally significant regional sites while bolstering the local
economy. Tourism Cares and Blackstone Valley Tourism Council share a
common goal of promoting responsible, sustainable tourism through public
conversation and activity, according to Bob Billington, president of
Blackstone Valley Tourism Council. Tourism Cares is a 501(c)(3)
non-profit public charity that mobilizes the travel and tourism industry
to give back to society through grants to natural, cultural and historic
sites worldwide; through academic and service-learning scholarships for
students of hospitality and tourism; and through the organization of
volunteer efforts to clean up and restore tourism-related sites in need
of care and rejuvenation. For additional information, visit
www.tourismcares.org.