Dear National Extension Tourism NETwork,
As we draw closer to the 2023 holiday season, NET Design Team and all of our members have a great deal to celebrate and look forward to! Under the leadership of the 2021-23 Executive Committee, the Design Team is at its full capacity, and we have strengthened our partnerships with federal agencies. NET has also launched the new DEIA committee, the National Extension Outdoor Recreation Working Group, and the National Extension Agritourism Working Group. In 2021, NET received a New Technologies for Ag Extension (NTAE) grant from Extension Foundation, and with tremendous support from the NERCRD (Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development), we now have an organizational growth plan and scaled up our outreach effort by having NET members represent NET at multiple conferences and events. With the NTAE grant, NET was also able to publish The NET Effect, its first conference proceedings, a series of one-page communication pieces, and an array of marketing assets.
Thanks to the leadership of Dr. Natalie Chin of Wisconsin Sea Grant, and with support from the NCRCRD (North Central Regional Center for Rural Development), NET had a successful biannual conference in late September 2023. At the conference, we honored seven teams and individuals with six awards and officially transitioned to the 2023-25 leadership team. You will read more about the conference and the award recipients in this newsletter.
In the next two years, we will continue to share our expertise to serve key stakeholders and audiences, support tourism and outdoor recreation as a recognized program in Extension and Sea Grant, and most importantly, continue to expand the impact of NET at state, regional, and national levels.
As always, we value your engagement with NET and welcome your ideas. Feel free to reach out to us via email and stay connected with us on LinkedIn. Thank you for reading this newsletter. We hope you will be able to get out and contribute to tourism during the 2023 holiday season and wish all of you a healthy and productive 2024!
Sincerely,
Xinyi Qian, Ph.D.
Director, University of Minnesota Tourism Center
Chair, NET