Indigenous Tourism Ontario-ORIGIN partnership brings new immersive vision for Indigenous tourism industry in Ontario

By Rick Garrick

THUNDER BAY — Indigenous Tourism Ontario (ITO) and ORIGIN have partnered to use virtual reality (VR) tools to enhance Indigenous tourism product offerings to people around the world.

“ORIGIN is our expert that we partnered with to develop virtual reality experiences utilizing Indigenous tourism businesses and the products they have to offer,” says Kevin Eshkawkogan, president and CEO with ITO and a M’Chigeeng First Nation citizen. “It’s all a part of our larger Strategic and COVID-19 Recovery Plan where one of the elements we are focusing on is diversifying product offerings for Indigenous tourism operators.”

The plan is aimed at helping Indigenous businesses by expanding reach through different platforms and providing visitors with new and innovative ways of accessing cultural tourism experiences.

“Before COVID-19, there was unprecedented demand for Indigenous tourism experiences,” Eshkawkogan says. “Two out of three international visitors want an Indigenous experience when travelling to Canada.”

Eshkawkogan says the goal is to sustain the Indigenous tourism industry in Ontario; promote diversity and a deeper understanding of Indigenous worldviews; and highlight, capture and preserve valuable Indigenous knowledge and traditions through accessible VR tours.

“With technology today, we can make the experiences accessible to anybody in the world,” Eshkawkogan says. “So we’re working with ORIGIN to help businesses to provide other offerings and create additional revenue streams for themselves given the pent-up demand from the international market and now what we’re seeing is demand from the domestic market due to COVID-19.”

Eshkawkogan says the VR technology allows Indigenous businesses to get into markets they traditionally wouldn’t have been in and to tell their story on their terms in a virtual fashion.

“ITO and partners are helping the industry get structured in this technology era that will allow for the Indigenous tourism community to tell their story on their terms while preserving, renewing and rejuvenating the industry,” Eshkawkogan says. “This amazing work with ORIGIN will advance the Indigenous, provincial, national and international tourism agendas.”

The VR technology will be used to enhance product offerings, increase exposure and contribute to the growing library of educational content in ORIGIN’s ImmersiveLink Cultural App.

“We believe that our ImmersiveLink Cultural App and developing relationships like this one with ITO are ways that we can continue to contribute to reconciliation across Canada,” says Melissa Hardy-Giles, owner of ORIGIN and Red Rock Indian Band citizen. “Great teachings open people’s eyes, minds and hearts to new pathways. Our goal is to provide immersive and inspiring learning and development experiences using the power of technology.”

ORIGIN’s approach is to design, develop and deliver leading-edge technology solutions that improve access to employment and culture opportunities across diverse industries and sectors.

“We’re excited to show everyone a day in the life of some Indigenous tourism [experiences] we have offered in our province,” Hardy-Giles says.

Hardy-Giles says the VR technology allows people to be fully immersed into the VR tour they are experiencing.

“You’re not looking at your phone, you’re not being interrupted,” Hardy-Giles says. “You’re just so immersed into the technology that all the outside noise and outside distractions aren’t there, so you get the person’s full attention.”

Hardy-Giles says the storyline creation and filming process for the VR tours will take about six weeks.

“ITO will give us a list of the tourism opportunities they have and how they would like to see them promoted,” Hardy-Giles says. “We will sit together and edit that information until we have a storyline that everyone agrees on.”

ORIGIN began using VR technology for workforce readiness tools in 2018.