Tourism Roundtable Discussion 

You are cordially invited to participate in a roundtable discussion about Tourism and its role in the regional economy in support of the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) currently being developed for Southeastern Connecticut.

Every 5 years, the Southeastern Connecticut Enterprise Region Inc. (seCTer) -  which includes the 21 municipalities within New London County plus the Town of Windham (added in 2015) - prepares a CEDS for the region. This plan is designed to bring together the public and private sectors in the creation of a tightly coordinated, economic roadmap to diversify and strengthen a region’s economy. Creating this region-wide economic development agenda requires an enormous amount of buy-in and participation from all stakeholders/sectors of the economy, and Tourism is a strong industry cluster here in SECT that certainly has a tremendous impact on the regional economy.

Most economic sectors such as financial services, insurance, or construction are easily defined within a country’s national accounts statistics, but Tourism is not so easily measured because it is not a single industry. It is a demand-side activity which affects nearly a dozen sectors to various degrees. 

According to a report drafted in 2013, were tourism an industry as defined by the government, tourism employment would rank as the 8th largest industry in Connecticut.

Join us to discuss trends, successes and challenges you face relating to tourism and the economy.

• What are the negative externalities affecting the tourism industry and how do we address them?
• What are our strongest leverageable assets? Are there assets that are being overlooked?
• What can we do to better promote the region?
• Where are our weaknesses or vulnerabilities? For example, how will climate change or extreme weather impact the region over the next 5 years?
• What trends do you see for the future of the tourism related industries and what direct and indirect impacts will there be on the economy?

 We hope that you, or a designee, will come share your insight on these topics and more.