Goal of the Wabanaki Cultural Tourism Initiative is to create a year-round tourism infrastructure involving Maine's Native American tribes: Maliseet, Mi'kmaq, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot.

Orono-based Four Directions Development Corporation is coordinating the effort, funded by a $150,000 grant from the Maine Office of Tourism. Matthew Lewis will be Wabanaki Program Director.

The grant will be used to host a Wabanaki Tourism Summit, run several local events, send several people to the Cultural Heritage Certificate Program at George Washington University School of Business, and create a Wabanaki Cultural Tourism Plan.

Organizers are optimistic that in the long term, the initiative could result in economic development including hotels and restaurants in Wabanaki communities,