ANNOUNCING
The Governor’s Awards
for
Innovative Tourism Collaboration
v. 09/03/08
Background
At the 2008 Michigan Tourism Conference held in Grand Rapids, the Michigan Travel Commission announced that a new set of industry awards recognizing innovative tourism collaborations would have their inaugural presentation during a special awards ceremony at the 2009 Michigan Tourism Conference. During her address at the 2008 conference, Governor Granholm agreed to name this new set of awards the “Governor’s Awards for Innovative Tourism Collaboration” to help elevate the status of Michigan’s tourism industry, to signal the Office of the Governor’s continued involvement and support, and to promote innovative collaboration as an effective, efficient and creative operating principle for the industry.
Award Categories
A Governor’s Award for Innovative Tourism Collaboration will be presented to nominated and selected collaborations of organizations in each of the following four categories.
Tourism Marketing / Promotion
Awarded to two or more organizations that have worked together to create an innovative marketing initiative designed to mutually benefit the partners, serve the community and bring positive attention to the Michigan travel industry. These partnerships may be comprised of travel industry members such as CVB’s, attractions and destinations or non-traditional partners such as retailers, governmental entities and other non-travel related industries.
Eligibility:
Nominees must be non-profit or for-profit, private sector or public sector, organizations, agencies or entities that are part of an innovative Michigan tourism marketing or promotion partnership or collaboration. All tourism sectors are eligible for this award, including hybrid or blended sector collaborations. At least one of the collaborators/partners must be based in Michigan.
Nominating Criteria:
Nominations must demonstrate that the nominees…
• Were able to achieve something of significance through collaboration that they could not have achieved on their own.
• Had addressed a tourism marketing or promotion challenge or opportunity in a new and innovative way.
• Learned something new, significant and useful from the collaboration and has, or will, share that acquired knowledge with a wider tourism industry audience.
• Have “succeeded” via the collaboration when judged against a “success metric” that is self-identified and described in the nomination.
Tourism Education / Training
Awarded to a collaboration for its efforts to educate or offer training to the tourism industry to elevate levels of customer service/hospitality, achieve economic success, or encourage non-traditional training partnerships or opportunities.
Eligibility:
Nominees must be non-profit or for-profit, private sector or public sector, organizations, agencies or entities that are part of an innovative tourism education or training partnership or collaboration. All tourism sectors are eligible for this award, including hybrid or blended sector collaborations. At least one of the collaborators/partners must be based in Michigan.
Nominating Criteria:
Nominations must demonstrate that the nominees…
• Were able to achieve one or more specific tourism or hospitality educational or training objectives solely or principally because of the collaboration.
• Had addressed an education or training opportunity or challenge in a new and innovative way.
• Learned something new, significant and useful from the collaboration and has, or will, share that acquired knowledge with a wider tourism industry audience.
• Have “succeeded” via the collaboration when judged against a “success metric” that is self-identified and described in the nomination.
Tourism Experience Presentation
Awarded to a collaboration in recognition of its success in developing and/or presenting an innovative, memorable and highly valued tourism experience.
Eligibility:
Nominees must be non-profit or for-profit, private sector or public sector, organizations, agencies or entities that have partnered or collaborated to develop or present an innovative Michigan tourism experience. All tourism sectors are eligible for this award, including hybrid or blended sector collaborations. At least one of the collaborators/partners must be based in Michigan.
Nominating Criteria:
Nominations must demonstrate that the nominees…
• Through innovative collaboration, have made a significant contribution to the inventory of compelling Michigan tourism experiences.
• Through innovative collaboration, have created either a whole new Michigan tourism experience, or re-presented an existing tourism experience in a new, innovative and compelling way, thereby adding to the uniqueness of Michigan’s tourism product.
• Learned something new, significant and useful from the collaboration and has, or will, share that acquired knowledge with a wider tourism industry audience.
• Have “succeeded” via the collaboration when judged against a “success metric” that is self-identified and described in the nomination.
Non-Traditional Tourism Partnerships / Collaborations
Awarded to an innovative collaboration among organizations/entities that have not typically or traditionally worked together, but through the collaboration has contributed in some significant and measurable way to Michigan’s tourism industry or to one or more specific Michigan tourism interests.
Eligibility:
Nominees must be non-profit or for-profit, private sector or public sector, organizations, agencies or entities that have not traditionally partnered or collaborated to advance a Michigan tourism interest. At least one of the collaborators/partners must be based in Michigan.
Nominating Criteria:
Nominations must demonstrate that the nominees…
• Were able to look beyond “the likely suspects” in forming an innovative tourism related collaboration or partnership.
• Through the collaboration, have helped expand an understanding of who can (and should) be a part of Michigan’s tourism industry.
• Learned something new, significant and useful from the collaboration and has, or will, share that acquired knowledge with a wider tourism industry audience.
• Have “succeeded” via the collaboration when judged against a “success metric” that is self-identified and described in the nomination.
