THUNDER BAY – Outdoor recreation students from Lakehead University are providing some of their research to Thunder Bay's tourism and transit divisions.
On Wednesday, the students pitched their final proposal to city officials, on ways to explore what the city has to offer using public transportation routes.
According to research conducted by the students, the fairly untapped market can often form the largest visitor segment for Thunder Bay, as the city has such a large student population and many don’t have a vehicle.
City of Thunder Bay manager of tourism Paul Pepe said the city’s noticing a shift with more millennials traveling.
“We have a massive out of town student population that’s here, not only from Ontario but from around the world, so they want to explore the city,” Pepe said.
“We want them to explore the city, we want them to get out and see the city.”
Pepe added the thought of connecting transit to attractions is an exciting idea for the city.
Students took the big city off-again, on-again bus tours idea and tweaked it to fit a smaller city demographic, linking popular tourist hot spots and things to do with bus routes.
Each of the six itineraries developed was made to cater different traveler interests.
From walks around Boulevard Lake and the botanical gardens for the outdoorsy traveler or eating at locally owned restaurants for the foodie, to checking out the city’s history.
Meredith Davy was part of the group that developed each itinerary and she hopes having these available routes promotes a more sustainable way of exploring Thunder Bay.
“I’ve lived here for four years and I’ve seen a lot of amazing things within the city,” Davy said.
“This just opened my eyes to how we can see all these beautiful sites and experience amazing opportunities in a sustainable way.”
Unlike other school projects that go back on the shelf unseen after the due date.
The website for this project with detailed itinerary instructions and directions will be promoted and used by Thunder Bay's tourism offices and it’s something that will be continuously developed and maintained with future classes for years to come.
(TBT News)
