New Hampshire “Tourism” Experience.
This assignment requires students to visit and to write about their experience at a “major special event” or visit to a “key
tourist attraction” in New Hampshire. The goal of this assignment is to provide students the opportunity to critically
assess a “tourist” experience from a variety of perspectives. See http://www.visitnh.gov/what-to-do/event-calendar.aspx
for a listing of “major special events” happening in NH this fall or http://www.visitnh.gov/what-to-do/keyattractions/default.aspx
for a listing of key tourist attractions in NH. The required paper associated with this assignment
must include an introduction; a description of all relevant details associated with the “tourist” experience (i.e., where and
when your experience took place, who accompanied you, how you traveled to the “event or “attraction”, what you did
before and after the event or the visit to the attraction), a summary of what you learned from completing this assignment,
and it should be well organized with headings and sub-headings for all relevant sections of one of the two options. Both
options requires the same procedures as all other writing assignments prepared for this course (i.e., proof read first draft
that you retain, and a final submitted on time, etc.). Students are required to prepare a 6-8 page paper on a word processor
your choice of one of the following two options:
Option 1: Tourism Experience: This assessment of a “key tourist attraction” or a “major special event” requires the
systematic collection of information about the entire experience from beginning to end. Your assessment must include the
following components: (1) information search, and (2) an assessment from two perspectives.
Information Search. The goal of the section is to collect information on a specific “key tourist attraction” or a “major
special event”. Your paper should identify the source and describe the information obtained. You should use the
following sources of information to complete your review and make your make your decision.
? Personal Experience (i.e., What does your personal experience tell you about the special event or the tourist
attraction? Have you had prior experiences with the event or attraction or a similar experience and recollections
from other tourist experiences?).
? Evaluation of the Event or Attraction’s Web Site (i.e., How easy was it to find the WEB Site? How easy was it to
navigate the WEB site? What was most useful in learning about the event or attraction? How would you rate the
quality and quantity of information on the Web Site? What did you learn about the experience? Was the web site
visually stimulating? How did the images make you feel? How would you rate the quality and quantity of
information? What information was missing?)
? Personal Interviews with three Different Audiences (e.g. college students, parents, friends, co-workers, other
tourists, employees, volunteers, etc.). These sources of information will help you learn about what other people think about the event or attraction. Their opinions/comments can be based on prior experience, word of mouth,
and/or personal opinions.
A view from Two Perspectives. This part of the assignment involves considering the event or attraction that you
chose to attend from two perspectives (at least two or three paragraphs on each perspective).
? The perspective of a student/traveler completing a class assignment. This bulleted section should include your
personal perspective (i.e., What did you expect? What was the reality?). This section should include an overall
evaluation of your level of satisfaction with your experience and this “assignment” and why they feel you feel that
way. This section should also include your suggestions for improving the both quality of the “attraction” or
“special event” experience and the quality of this assignment.
? The perspective of the Owner/Manager of the Attraction or manager of the special Event. This bulleted section
should be written from the perspective of the owner/manager of the attraction or event. I am not asking you to
“guess what the owner/manager” is thinking, rather, I am interested in reading how you would respond to the
following types of questions as if you were the owner/manager of the company/special event based on your
experience and other sources of knowledge: What would be your goals for the business/event if you were
responsible? What would be your greatest challenges and concerns if you owned the company? What would be
the best part of owning this business? The worst part? What would you do to improve your business? Why?).
Your selection of this option will help me understand your experience and what you learned from it relative to a
variety of the goals for this course (see course outline). It can be also be of value to owners/managers of tourist
attractions and events, providing important insights to improve the quality of the tourist experience, to improve
operations and effectiveness, and to make decisions about how the operation is doing and how they may affecting
the tourists, residents, the community and the environment. The paper must include an introduction and
conclusion, and make liberal use of heading and sub-heading to guide the reader through your paper with
appropriate explanations.