Achievements

In 2020-2021 participated in the Canada Comeback Challenge, a national initiative empowering post-secondary students to develop innovative solutions for Canada’s COVID-19 recovery while gaining hands-on, work-integrated learning experience. I collaborated in a competition tackling real-world challenges across public, private, and non-profit sectors in the tourism industry – culminating in pitching ideas to industry leaders and judges through a research paper and engaging presentation (I made a cartoon) Together with RRU student Deepa Sudame, we researched how rural communities could harness tourism opportunities during the pandemic by analyzing industry trends, studying successful case studies, and interviewing tourism experts and academics. We created an action plan for tourism business and destinations on Vancouver Island – that was Deepa’s part. My part was to create a vivid presentation of our findings and action plan, so I made a cartoon and figured out that complicated data can be easily explained through engaging storytelling. 

Major Research Project at Royal Roads University (Master of Arts in Tourism Management), supported by Sooke Region Tourism Association. The project explored gaps between tourist expectations and actual experiences in Sooke. The findings were presented to the mayor and the Chamber of Commerce and were taken into consideration during the development of the destination strategy. 

This innovative project – a partnership between Tourism Vancouver Island and Royal Roads University reimagined beach cleanups as transformative travel experiences focused on raising awareness of ocean pollution on Vancouver Island by engaging tourists through meaningful, responsible tourism and voluntourism initiatives. The finding is that for tourists beach cleanups may also double as immersive lessons in local ecology, geography, and history. Environmental action becomes a cultural connection and a new form of tourism. An actionable framework linking non-profits with tourism operators was created and adopted by tourism industry partners to create meaningful visitor experiences while supporting local causes.