MINDEMOYA—The Manitoulin Island Cycling Advocates (MICA) has won a 2024 “Tourism Innovator of the year Award.”
“Industry Leader Awards are presented to recipients in several different categories at our annual Destination Northern Ontario Tourism Summit,” said David MacLachlan, executive director of Destination Northern Ontario. The Northern Ontario Tourism Summit took place November 19-21 in North Bay. The event draws together tourism businesses, organizations, and suppliers, as well as government representatives to find solutions to challenges facing the industry. It’s a joint initiative of Destination Northern Ontario, Nature and Outdoor Tourism Ontario, and Tourism North Bay.
The Tourism Innovator of the Year Award, “recognizes an organization or individual that created a new innovative product, policy or service to promote and enhance tourism in their local community, region or the province of Ontario.”
“We gave out the award at the summit,” said Mr. MacLachlan. I imagine this is not the first Industry Leader award MICA has received for all the good work they have done to promote cycling and tourism on Manitoulin Island,” said Mr. MacLachlan. “Maja (Mielonen, MICA president) has been a driving force for cycling on Manitoulin Island for a long time.”
“We have received the Destination Northern Ontario (DNO) Industry Leader Tourism Innovator of the Year award for the Manitoulin Outdoor Digital Experience Museum,” said Ms. Mielonen. In 2019 MICA received an Industry Leader Product Development award.
“MODEM is a tour guide of story driven tours with well over 100 points of interest written and produced by MICA, partnering with APP Developer Driftscape,” said Ms. Mielonen. “We engaged seven Indigenous and non-Indigenous story writers to create stories, focussing on such things as flora, fauna, history, myths.”
MODEM offers new and innovative ways for visitors to Manitoulin to discover the Island through a series of story driven tours. These excursions can be viewed by all visitors, including cyclists, hikers and motorists alike.
The tours are an in-depth collection of writing, images and videos, compromising over 180 points of interest (also called ‘stops) that can be instantly accessed on a smartphone through the App. Even better, the tours boast audio recordings that auto play after starting a tour and when you are near a stop, which allows cyclists and motorists to safely enjoy a hands-free experience while exploring Manitoulin. The routes highlight the Island’s multicultural history, local stories, its wide variety of fauna and flora as well as geological facts and quirky anecdotes. MODEM tours are available in English and French, both in written and audio format.
“There are currently over 10 cycling tours that start in different Island locations, with some more suitable for leisurely riders and others ideal for hard-core adventurers. There are vehicular itineraries that make for cross-Island road trips.”
“The Driftscapes App has had over 10,000 views,” said Ms. Mielonen. “Certain businesses advertise on that site with us. It is a tourism guide offering a guide at their fingertips 24/7 every day.”
Ms. Mielonen said representatives of Driftscape were in attendance at the conference as well. “They were surprised at how popular the engagement tours have proven to be in the winter by visitors from all over. It can be accessed by someone using all forms of transportation. And it has shown to be a service that tourists can discover the Island and can lure tourists to the Island. She pointed out “we have created a scavenger hunt on the App for our annual Manitoulin Passage Ride. It is something municipalities can also use to advertise if they are having major events in their community.”
“The MODEM is a super platform that everyone can use,” said Ms. Mielonen.
“People can explore the Island from their living room,” said Mr. Nielen.
The Northern Ontario Industry Leader Awards recognize excellence in the province’s tourism industry. Recipients provide outstanding leadership, exemplify best business practices, innovative marketing and deliver tourism experiences that contribute to the success of Ontario’s tourism industry, which generates over $36 billion in economic activity and supports more than 400,000 jobs.
