SALAMANCA – The Seneca Nation establishes a Visitor Economy Management Office.
Kortney Keyes has been chosen to lead this new office and will be based out of the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center at the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum.
Keyes said she took up her new position as head of the newly created office in February. She said the Visitor Economy Management Office is a new department within the Seneca Nation’s other programs and departments. The office will be located in the cultural center until the department is set up and built up.
“Right now I’m an employee of one, but I’m going to start a team. Once I have staff, I’ll need more office space,” she said. “It will probably take several years to get everything developed and up and running, but right now everything is really behind the scenes.”
The Visitor Economy division itself handles tourism, but Keyes says the newly developed office will do more than that. She said they would evaluate and manage how they can help small businesses thrive.
Youth employment and sports development are included along with local artists, creators and makers. She said that they definitely want to include the Seneca culture in their goals.
“This new office is not just tourism specific. It’s also what we can bring back to our community as a whole through tourism,” she said. “We kind of want to move away from the idea that we’re just a tourist office because we’re much more than that.”
Keyes said part of her job will be an event planner for all things Seneca tourism related to Salamanca. Eventually she will work closely with the nation’s media department to run a website and they will eventually have guidebooks available to help visitors with additional information.
“It’s more long-term. The first thing would definitely be to plan all of this and try to get an idea of what we want to include on our website and in our guides and then go from there,” she said. “We will do everything internally through the Seneca Nation.”
There is no set time when the new department will be established and staffed, Keyes said. It’s brand new and she’s focusing on the work in progress goals with the support of a consultant. She is currently helping with a few different projects to free up the other departments when they need an extra hand.
The concept of visitor economy is important for the success of tourism. It adds another element to the traditional notion of tourism as a planned overnight trip.
According to the University of Derby, visitor economy is a place-based concept that looks at the overall environment in which visitors, locals and tourists interact. It focuses on the elements that attract visitors and the infrastructure and services that support their visit.
Keyes said she worked at all three Seneca casinos in Niagara Falls, Buffalo and Salamanca.
“I’ve had wonderful experiences at all three of our casinos and that creates a great background for everything I do,” she said. “I don’t necessarily need a degree in marketing or tourism to do what I’m doing here. It’s people based – working with people and the community – and that’s where I’m strongest.”
Keyes lives in Irving, Cattaraugus Territory with her partner Adam Pagan and their three children. She attended Niagara University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in hospitality, administration and management with a concentration in hotel and restaurant management.
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