CARIBOU – Stakeholders in Aroostook County tourism will get together this week at three regional meetings to gather input for a five-year plan that could decide the direction and growth of the industry.

Until now, the Northern Maine Development Commission and Aroostook County Tourism Inc., working with a $50,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, have looked at an overall picture for tourism, done some research and analysis, conducted visitor and potential visitor surveys and examined other successful tourism ventures across North America.

The final piece of the puzzle, before a final report is completed by the end of December, is the local input.

“These three meetings are for anyone interested in tourism in Aroostook County,” Shawn Manter of NMDC said Sunday. “We are looking for people from chambers of commerce, cultural heritage organizations, local economic development officials, and people in the restaurant and lodging industry to attend.

“If we can get local people behind us in the development of the plan, get their input, they will more readily buy into the plan,” Manter said. “Once we decide on a course to take, we hope they will get in on it.”

Manter described the meetings as the “home stretch” of the effort to increase tourism in Aroostook County.

NMDC used some of the grant money to hire Economic Stewardship Inc. to assist in the research and development of the plan to address the tourism needs of the region.

One of the primary objectives is to make northern Maine more visible to potential visitors. Officials also want to make tourism more self-sufficient, financially sustainable and proactive. They also want to provide assistance to entrepreneurs.

The project is aligned with a Resort Development Feasibility Study being done by the Aroostook Partnership for Progress.

A preliminary business model can be viewed on the NMDC Web site at www.nmdc.org.

The regional meetings will be held 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 29, at the NMDC offices in Caribou; 1 p.m. the same day at the Maine Winter Sports Center 10th Mountain Division Lodge in Fort Kent; 9 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 30, at the Southern Aroostook Agricultural Museum in Littleton.