MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
Dear Partners,
After what felt like a very early spring, it seems winter is back which is good news for all our winter product businesses! We have been fortunate in this region that we haven’t seen the really mild temperatures some of the province has experienced and our ski resorts have been able to impress our visitors with excellent conditions, despite a lack of precipitation. All of the Kootenay Rockies resorts are open and planning to operate well into late March and April. You can find out more information on conditions at specific resorts here.
Last newsletter we talked about Destination BC’s new brand. In an early effort to further unify marketing efforts throughout the province, Destination BC has now made a web tile available for use on your own business or community website. If you haven’t uploaded this yet we encourage you to do so. You can download the web tile here.
New as of April 1, 2015 all Tourism Partner and Community Tourism Opportunities projects will no longer use the integrated Kootenay Rockies Tourism/Super, Natural BC logo. Any cooperative marketing campaigns that are executed in the new fiscal will be required to have the new Super, Natural BC logo, with placement, sizing subject to approval by Destination BC. Kootenay Rockies Tourism will be assisting our Partners with this logo transition.
We expect the brand roll-out will continue as we move into the new fiscal and we will keep you updated on when more information and brand tools will be available to the industry.
Canadian Signature Experiences
The Canadian Tourism Commission’s (CTC) Canadian Signature Experiences (CSE) program showcases once-in-a-lifetime, authentic travel experiences that exemplify Canada’s tourism brand. There are currently 183 experiences across the country. After consultation between the CTC and Provincial Destination Marketing Organizations (PDMOs), the program application process will change for this year. The changes include:
- The CSE program will be co-managed by the CTC and the PDMOs. Destination BC will manage the membership application and renewal process, and will serve as the first point of contact for industry interested in applying to the program.
- The CSE program will evolve into a travel trade development program and meeting export ready criteria is a mandatory requirement.
- Specific application intake deadlines have been removed. Businesses can apply at any time throughout the year.
Please find further information on the program here.
Contacts for BC businesses and our Partners for this program are Sandy Reid and Leona Zheng. Contact details are as follows:
Sandy Reid, Sales Manager, North America Sandy.Reid@DestinationBC.com
Leona Zheng, Sales Manager-Asia, Tourism Marketing Leona.Zheng@DestinationBC.com
Destination BC New Strategy
As Destination BC continues to roll out their new strategy, I would encourage all of you to familiarize yourself with their corporate website: DestinationBC.ca. It is a source of an abundance of information that you can go through at your leisure, as well as resources and tools for the industry. I would encourage you to also review the new Marketing Plan.
More information on the new cooperative marketing programs will be available soon. The Tourism Marketing Sub-Committee is currently working through the process of pulling together recommendations from all of the consultation sessions that took place throughout the province. Again, as soon as more information is available, we will let you know where it can be found and how you will be able to access marketing dollars for 2016/17.
Regional Initiatives
Many of you will have noticed the Kootenay APP sign over the luggage carousel at the Canadian Rockies International Airport (YXC). This sign has been in place for several years. In March, our region will have improved coverage and higher visibility with a colourful photo banner that will extend over eight of the glass windows around the holding lounge. The messaging on the photo banner, to promote the Kootenay APP, will focus on the activities visitors can experience such as hiking, biking, skiing and adventure.
And we are pleased to announce that we will also have a presence at the West Kootenay Regional Airport (YCG). In early March, look for our new sign that will be placed prominently across from the luggage carousel. There is more detail about our APP coverage further in this issue.
Please remember we would like to hear from you! We invite you to drop us email to let us know how your winter has been, what your visitors are saying and any other comments on the state of the industry as you see it.
Kathy Cooper
CEO & Travel Trade
Kathy@KootenayRockies.com
SKIING/RIDING THE POWDER HIGHWAY
Our Powder Highway mountains, heli, cat and backcountry lodges are OPEN… and we are seeing WHITE! This is what we’ve been posting via social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram and Blogs) since mid-February.
On average we post 2-4 ‘organic’ stories per day via Facebook and Google+ for Powder Highway, plus several tweets daily and an original or photo-share via Instagram. While the posts to Kootenay Rockies are more frequent, the content is tailored to our KootRock audience of all things winter.
It is very important that tourism business around the region help support their local operators as well – posting that skiing/riding at your community mountains along the #PowderHighway is a positive experience, which will enhance the visitor’s stay and their future stay. The fact is – all of our ski resorts have great snow coverage. Maybe this season it is time to hone your techniques, get out there and enjoy the groomers!
For more information on Kootenay Rockies Social Media Channels, contact Shannon@KootenayRockies.com.
BORDER CROSSING DATA & PROVINCIAL TOURISM INDICATORS
We were able to secure some interesting statistics on the border crossings (US/CAD) in our region. The attached report highlights the customs entries for Cranbrook, Kingsgate, Roosville, Nelway, Paterson, Rykerts, Trail and Waneta. The statistics for Trail and Cranbrook are private plane customs entries at these regional airports. Good news to report, there is an increase of 3.8% when comparing 2013 to 2014 up to the end of November.
Also included is the Provincial Tourism Indicators report dated December 2014 for statistics up to the end of November 2014. More good news, there is an increase in Travel Parties to Visitor Centres in our region (+5.5%) as well as in the Passenger Volume to Regional Airports – with the West Kootenay Regional Airport in Castlegar showing an 11.2% increase. ‘Source: Statistics Canada; compilied by Research, Planning and Evaluation Destination British Columbia.’
For more information on Research & Visitor Data, contact Wendy@KootenayRockies.com.
ONLINE PRESENCE
The Kootenay APP is “APPsolutely” all our visitors need!
Heading into its fourth year, the Kootenay APP (native app) has reached an impressive number of consumers so far and achieved 14,000 downloads! And we continue to inform our travellers about this very useful ‘in region’ travel tool through our visitor centre networks and in our annual Travel & Golf Guides. In February we secured another billboard location in the Castlegar Airport (YCG) to promote the Kootenay APP. In this past summer 2014 we refreshed the graphics in the visitor kiosks at the Balfour and Crawford Bay ferry landings. Along with the billboard display at the Canadian Rockies International Airport (YXC) we now have 4 key consumer-intercept points showcasing the Kootenay APP in the Kootenay Rockies region!
Kootenay Rockies Consumer Websites
KootenayRockies.com (web app), has received 33,090 visits and 117,086 page views recorded for this recent year.
The Kootenay Rockies’ sites continue to offer clear & easy navigation and the responsive design displays content according to the screen size of your device – from smartphone to desktop computer.
The site displays an inventory of regional tourism product. And, it includes a vast number of features such as Near Me, 360-degree Google Photo Tours, interactive mapping, videos & audio clips, blogs, social media links to all your platforms and more.
Details will follow soon on how your online presence can be additionally enhanced with unlimited descriptive content, a slide show of photos, Special Offers listing and presence on KootenayBrochures.ca.
KootenayBrochures.ca was launched July 2013 and is a regional microsite displaying all print pieces for the Kootenay Rockies on an online bookshelf. Each brochure links to and is viewable from a digital publishing platform. A one-year stats overview for this site is: 2,512 visits and an impressive 4,533 reads.
For more information on Kootenay Rockies websites & publications, contact Karen@KootenayRockies.com.
UPDATES FROM go2hr
New Funding Available For Training Your Staff
Do you have staff that would benefit from upgrading skills to take on a new job or additional responsibilities in their current job? Have you identified future employees that you’d like to hire, who need some additional training to succeed on the job?
With the Canada-BC Job Grant, you can now help offset the costs of training for new or current employees by receiving a grant for up to two-thirds of the training cost (up to a maximum government contribution of $10,000 per grant).
Eligible training includes essential skills, apprenticeship, technical, business, emerit certification and more – and it can take place in a classroom, online or at your workplace with an outside trainer. For more information visit the go2hr website.
Free Online Webinar On Workplace Health & Safety
In order to help employers in our industry to better understand and implement different aspects of their Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) program, go2hr introduced an initiative called ‘COR Element of the Quarter’. Approximately every 3 months go2hr organizes a one-hour webinar looking closely at one element of your OHS program and its link to the COR audit. Each session will provide you with the opportunity to learn something new, connect with colleagues from different industries, and ask questions related to the topic that are relevant to your operation.
This training is ideal for the individual responsible for leading OHS for their organization as well as for members of a company’s Joint Occupational Health & Safety Committee (JOHSC) to fulfill their annual OHS training entitlement. For those of you who are certified COR Internal Auditors, this session will also count towards the requirement of completing 7 hours of professional development over the period of three years. For more information visit the go2hr website.
YOU’RE INVITED! DESTINATION BC VISITOR SERVICES NETWORK CONSULTATION
On December 2, 2014, Visitor Services hosted the first consultation session for the Visitor Centre Network. With 70 communities present, the discussion was a great start in moving forward new approaches to visitor services and how best to meet the evolving needs of our visitors. Visitor Services will continue to host consultation sessions across the province to gather additional input and ideas. Invites will be sent, as meetings are scheduled around the province. The purpose of these community consultations is to delve deeper into the high level themes and delegate feedback from the Dec 2, Visitor Centre Network meeting in Vancouver. Click here for a summary of the Delegate Feedback from this meeting. The following meeting dates have been scheduled for the Kootenay Rockies region:
Castlegar: March 12, 11am-3pm, Sandman Hotel, Columbia Room, RSVP by March 6.
Cranbrook: March 23, 11am-3pm, Prestige Resort, Van Horne Room, RSVP by March 18.
Revelstoke: March 24, 11am-3pm, Sandman Inn, Banquet Room, RSVP by March 19.
To register for a session, please email Karen.Tunkara@DestinationBC.ca.
For additional information, please email Nancy.Frederickson@DestinationBC.ca.
Prior to attending a meeting, it would be beneficial to familiarize yourself with the Destination BC Strategy.
MEDIA RELATIONS
February has been yet another busy month for our travel media department. In conjunction with Destination BC, we are coordinating visits for writers with enRoute, The Inlander/Snowlander, Vacay.ca, Men’s Journal (online), SBC Media and others.
Last month, CBC Television was in the region filming one of our Canadian Rockies iconic celebrations – Field, BC’s annual ‘Yoho Blow Days’ (January 23-25). The 7-minute video clip kicked off the Tuesday, February 3rd Rick Mercer Report program. Rick Mercer has received more than 25 Gemini Awards for his television work and the Mercer Report provides a unique viewpoint on Canada from coast to coast! With an estimated audience of 1.109 million viewers, Field/Yoho National Park’s episode reached a gigantic market.
This month we assisted the Canadian Tourism Commission and Destination BC on a project that brought Instagrammer, @ChrisBurkard (600k followers) and Arc’teryx pro athlete @AustinRoss88 (11.5k followers) to the region. Chris and Austin posted images from Lussier, Fernie, Nelson and Rossland. Chris posted 15 outstanding images and his first-ever video, capturing an average audience of 30,000 per post. Powder Highway’s Instagram followers are rising (over 1,000) – each day an original or shared image is posted. Tag your images #powderhighway to be shared!
The Kootenay Rockies region has also seen some excellent results in the past month from journalists that have visited on Destination BC supported press trips. These include feature stories in the Globe & Mail by Tom Maloney and The Seattle Times by Christy Karras.
We would be hard-pressed to host journalists without the continued support of our tourism product suppliers. Your assistance in helping us promote the Kootenay Rockies is truly appreciated.
As always, we are interested in hearing about anything NEW, or story ideas that you are promoting. Please email Heidi@KootenayRockies.com with any updates.
TRAVEL TRADE
The annual National Tour Association Convention (NTA) took place in January in New Orleans. Kathy Cooper, CEO & Manager of Travel Trade for Kootenay Rockies Tourism (KRT), attended alongside representatives from the other 5 regions and Destination BC. This annual trade show dedicates a full day of pre-scheduled appointments for DMOs and Tour Operators to meet and discuss itinerary planning and opportunities to introduce new products and routes to their clients. KRT has been a member of NTA since the mid 1980s and it is our only point of direct contact with US Tour Operators. In 2014, BC saw 3.3% growth in US visitation. The growth from the United States, BC’s largest international market, is partly due to economic growth in the US and strengthening of the US dollar. This was reflected at the tradeshow by the renewed optimism around travel to Canada amongst the operators.
The Overnight Custom Entries to BC and Canada for 2014 are listed in this report.
For more information on Travel Trade and International Trade Shows, contact: Kathy@KootenayRockies.com.
COMMUNITY TOURISM UPDATES
Kootenay Rockies Tourism was invited to participate in a regional forum on ‘Branding & Marketing in the Columbia Valley’ on January 15-16. This session was led by the Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK), Community Directed Funds committee, and facilitated by Gerri Brightwell, Invest Kootenay and Andrew Nickerson, President & CEO of Tourism Canmore Kananaskis.
Emilie Cayer-Huard attended the Friday session and gave a presentation on the Kootenay Rockies programs and initiatives as they relate to this area. Four Columbia Valley tourism organizations also presented their current initiatives. This led to further discussion on the present state of the branding and marketing in the valley, the identification of a shared vision for valley-wide collaboration and how each organization and business contribute to enhancing the visitor economy.
Kootenay Rockies Tourism has offered to support the effort initiated by the group by securing an opportunity to develop an integrated multi-year tourism plan through Destination BC’s Community Tourism Foundation Program.
The group will meet again late-April.
For more information on the Community Programs, contact Emilie@KootenayRockies.com.
COMMUNITY FEATURE
Some of the Community Destination Marketing Organizations (CDMOs) across the region have been very active refreshing their visual identity & brand and updating their websites to offer more functionality, improved trip planning features, better responsiveness, current content and modernizing the look and feel. Have a look at what Tourism Golden, Tourism Fernie and Nelson Kootenay Lake Tourism have been up to!
Tourism Radium Hot Springs‘ new website will be launched shortly, while Tourism Rossland also has a refreshed website launched in 2014. Some of our community partners have completed their website refresh leveraging their dollars through the Community Tourism Opportunities program.
Tourism Fernie has also launched a new social media platform to aggregate user-generated content and images from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+ and YouTube. Everything that is shared on Social Media by visitors, locals and business operators including what’s going on in the community, deals, events, news, photos, videos using the hashtag #Fernie now appears on FernieStoke.com.
This platform uses Tradable Bits, a social media marketing & aggregator tool and presents a fun display quite similar to Pinterest, that allows the client (Tourism Fernie) to ‘turn fans into content creators, understand their audience and create lasting relationship’.
Congratulations to our Partners for their great new web tools!
LIST YOUR FESTIVAL & EVENTS FOR FREE!
Festival and Events are free to display on the Kootenay Rockies site and also on the provincial website: HelloBC.com. Take advantage of this free online exposure! To get your events onto KootenayRockies.com, please email event details to Karen@KootenayRockies.com. And, to get your events onto HelloBC.com, click here to link to a fast and easy user-maintained program.
