During the Winter 2022 Term, students in the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Sport put themselves in the shoes of Canada Games spectators, athletes, and coaches to develop the content for the N22 Visitors Guide App.
“Games visitors have historically been an afterthought,” explains Paula Racher, manager, Events and Community Relations for the N22 Games. “Friends, families and other Games spectators have typically been on their own to find the ‘must see’ attractions and activities in the host community. As one of Canada’s top tourism destinations, we wanted to do better for this segment of the Canada Games by welcoming visitors to Niagara and showcasing all there is to see and do.”
That’s where Niagara College professor Shelley Merlo came in. While on secondment as Special Events Liaison with the Games, Merlo leveraged the opportunity to embed the Games into the curriculum of her Sport Tourism class.
NC’s Shelley Merlo, professor in the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Sport, on secondment with the Canada Games as Special Events Liaison.
“The N22 App student experience is a unique experiential learning opportunity and very nicely related to the Sport Tourism course, targeting what a sport tourist would want to do in the Niagara Region while here for the Games,” said Merlo.
Set to launch in June ahead of the Games in August, students worked with project lead and app developer Tournkey to create a master list of local amenities for each of the 12 regions in Niagara. This includes dining, entertainment, services, and more near Games venues, all at the fingertips of visitors throughout their stay.
Chris Charlebois, Chief Operating Officer at Tournkey says that NC students have been instrumental in building content and testing the app. Students developed a user experience survey which they leveraged to collect feedback from over 100 users at sporting events in the community.
“Students presented to our company, outlining their findings, recommendations for improvements, and any problematic areas or additions that could be included to make the user experience even better,” said Charlebois.
Sport Management alumnus Geoffrey Benoit (graduating June 2022) feels the experience will set him apart in the job market, providing him with transferable skills for different career paths.
“Being able to contribute to developing this app allows me to go into interviews with confidence and explain what I contributed, while potentially giving me an advantage during the hiring process because of the hands-on experience I was able to obtain during my time at Niagara College,” said Benoit, who worked on this project during his third year. He cites experiential learning projects like these as one of the reasons he chose NC.
The N22 Games have provided a real-world case study for Merlo’s students, who also reviewed Niagara’s bid video for the Games to learn best practices, and developed mock Games sponsorship packages.
“It means a lot to be able to work with the Canada Games and the app developer to help contribute to such an amazing event,” said Benoit. “We [students] can see how these apps are created from the ground up – the research, the application, and the live launch when the Games start. Knowing that we were able to apply the knowledge we gained in the Sport Tourism class to something that will be used by thousands of individuals is nothing short of amazing.”
Benoit hopes to volunteer at the Games this summer to see the app in action. “Being able to work on this project is just added motivation to volunteer and attend the Games so I can see, first-hand, how the app turned out.”
Racher sees Merlo as a valued member of the N22 Team. “Shelley’s experience with sport events such as the 2015 PanAm Games allows her to bring real life experience to both her teaching and her support of our team. There have been times throughout our planning where Shelley has shared best practices and learned experiences from her vast knowledge base.”
Stay tuned for the launch of the Niagara 2022 Canada Games app, available for download in June.
