Global Travel & Tourism Partnership

GTTP Canada Team 2008In November, two Academy students from St. Paul’s Collegiate in Elie, Manitoba traveled to Nice, France with their Coordinator, Susanne Saiko-Gamble, to present their case study at the International Student-Teacher Conference. Their topic was Responsible Tourism: An Impact Study of the Effects of Geocaching on Canada’s Wetlands. The full case study will be posted on GTTP’s website soon. CATT is currently accepting applications for the 2009 case study writing competition on “Sport Tourism.”

2008 GTTP International Case Study Writing Competition – Sustainable Tourism

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, our CATT teacher, Ms. Saiko-Gamble, forcefully suggested that we participate in the GTTP International Case Study Writing Competition. And boy, are we happy she did!

It all started in the fall of 2008 with a hand-held GPS unit and one of Ms. Saiko’s seemingly crazy ideas. Sustainable tourism? Geocaching? What has she gotten us into? After some initial research, the importance of the topic began to emerge. It became clear to us that we wanted to learn more about protecting our environment and how tourism would come into play.

Geocaching is a high tech scavenger hunt that is played all over the world by thousands of people. Boxes containing treasures are hidden on public property. Coordinates are posted on the internet and anyone with a GPS unit can download them and begin the hunt. It seemed pretty harmless, until we started playing the game. The search often took us off marked trails and we found ourselves trampling many plants along the way. What would it take to make this activity sustainable?

We contacted Jacques Bourgeois of Winnipeg’s Oak Hammock Marsh for help. Oak Hammock Marsh has been a longtime supporter of CATT through our local industry advisory group. They were more than happy to lend a hand. After more than a year of preparation, research, editing, and re-editing, we were finally on our way to Nice, France to present our project detailing the impact of geocaching on Oak Hammock Marsh, one of Manitoba’s most important wetlands.

Upon landing, we were amazed by the enchanting scenery of Nice, from the sapphire colored water to the old relic buildings. It was surreal! Soon we began meeting the participants from other countries. In a matter of hours life-long friendships were forged. We were treated to luxurious hotel rooms, incredible local delicacies and a state of the art facility to present our projects.

We can’t begin to thank the GTTP and CATT enough for making this experience possible for us. The road was long but the destination was filled with sweet surprises, such as an incredible day trip to Monte Carlo. In the words of St. Augustine, “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page”.

Meriel Bond & Lauren Beckwith
St. Paul’s Collegiate
Canadian Academy of Travel and Tourism

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