Feature Photo: Delegates of the Lower Columbia Initiatives Corporation – Community Economic Development Forum
MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
Hosted by the LOWER COLUMBIA INITIATIVES CORPORATION, a Community Economic Development forum was recently held at RED MOUNTAIN RESORT. Attending with our Community Tourism Program Specialist, Emilie Cayer-Huard, I was invited to be a guest speaker for this edition of the event with a special focus on tourism. It was a great opportunity to share information on how tourism contributes to our regional economy.
In addition to being a major economic driver on its own, tourism is often the driver that brings new entrepreneurs and investors to our region and entices them to come live, play and do business here.
Deanne Steven, a Kootenay Rockies Director and Executive Director of TOURISM ROSSLAND, mentioned in her presentation, that tourism organizations and more specifically Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) have the tools and resources to help promote the area and reach out to many potential investors.
Collaboration between all levels of government, economic development organizations, business associations and private stakeholders was central to all conversations. The Forum included delegates from Community Futures throughout the Kootenays, Chambers of Commerce, DMOs, local governments, regional districts and provincial government, as well as the Columbia Basin Trust and the Colleges.
Glenn Mandziuk, President & CEO of THOMPSON OKANAGAN TOURISM ASSOCIATION, our neighbouring tourism region, gave a presentation on TOTA’s Regional Destination Development Strategy and how regional collaboration is a key component of successful economic development.
The delegates were taken on a tour of the Greater Trail area and learned about this incredibly rich and diverse part of our region, accompanied by passionate local guides.
Thanks to the Lower Columbia Initiatives Corporation for putting this great event together.
Kathy Cooper, CEO & Travel Trade
RENDEZ-VOUS CANADA 2015
RENDEZ-VOUS CANADA (RVC) is Canada’s premier international tourism marketplace. The event reunites more than 1,500 international tourism professionals gathered over four days for a series of twelve-minute appointments to promote or discover unique Canadian experiences. RVC is an important industry-trade platform for Canadians to potentially generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the Canadian tourism business. Kathy Cooper attended the show which was held in Niagara Falls, ON from May 25-29th.
There were many new buyers to the show, primarily from new markets such as China and India. Due to the large number of new Chinese buyers, many of the Regional Destination Marketing Organizations (RDMOs) found themselves doing more of a general overview of the geography of the province and where specifically our own region is in comparison to Vancouver and Calgary as gateway cities. Educating the new tour operators on the logistics of traveling in BC, distances, geography, etc is paramount as they do not have the same knowledge and familiarity with our province that perhaps a German or UK operator who has been selling BC for years might have.
New for the BC DMOs was the ‘Team BC’ presence on the marketplace floor. DESTINATION BC (DBC) had coordinated an open concept for all of the RDMOs and DBC Travel Trade staff featuring new visual backdrops of the provincial brand imagery. There was a team look to the attire at the show, with a new ‘on brand’ scarf or pocket square. The photo above of the BC team at RVC 2015 gives a sense of the new look of the visuals presented at the show and the scarves.
During RVC, the Canadian Tourism Commission announced their new name and brand change to DESTINATION CANADA. Further, they announced an investment by the Federal Government of $30 million over 3 years to direct to partnered marketing efforts around the ‘Connecting America’ campaign, the re-entry into the US market. This campaign will focus on high yield customers within 4 hours of the US/Canada international border.
DESTINATION BC: BRAND WORKSHOP
On Friday, June 19 in Cranbrook, Destination BC held a 3-hour workshop on British Columbia’s new destination brand. Shannon Harrison and Wendy Van Puymbroeck attended on behalf of Kootenay Rockies Tourism. The workshop focused on how the new brand is being used to market the province and how our stakeholders can amplify the brand in their marketing efforts. For the Kootenay Rockies partners who attended, there were examples of the new style of photography and the partners learned how they could align their own photo shoots to be on brand.
The workshop included a presentation with examples on current marketing initiatives with the new brand elements: typography, colour, tone of voice and photography. We broke out into small groups and applied the skills we had learned on a mock-up website design. This exercise really gave us a chance to put the workshop training into a real life example.
More DBC Brand workshop sessions will be held this fall, including at the Kootenay Rockies Tourism Industry conference taking place in Revelstoke October 6-7, 2015.
KARIN PENNER NAMED FELLOW OF BC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Karin Penner, recently retired manager of the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce, was inducted as Fellow of the BRITISH COLUMBIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE at the Chair Inaugural Reception – Monday, May 25, 2015 at the BC Chamber AGM in Prince George. The Fellow of the BC Chamber is awarded to individuals who have shown exemplary and outstanding past or present service to the Chamber of Commerce movement in British Columbia. As quoted from the Cranbrook Daily Townsman article “Karin has dedicated her working career to the Chamber movement locally and provincially. Her legacy lives on in the hundreds of Chambers Presidents, Board Members and senior chamber management throughout the province. Karin retired from the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce in 2014 after 31 years of service to the business community.” Congratulations Karin!
TOURISM FERNIE AGM
Wendy Van Puymbroeck was pleased to attend the AGM on June 18 along with 56 members and stakeholders of TOURISM FERNIE. The 2014/2015 Annual report and marketing updates were delivered by Executive Director, Jikke Gyorki. There was a special partnership presentation by Expedia.
An exciting new initiative was the SUMMER TOURISM INFO VIDEO. “Designed primarily as a training tool for businesses and their frontline staff to provide information on all there is to do in Fernie in Summer, but also great for sharing on our website or social media feeds. Sit down with your team and watch the video at your next team building meeting and discuss all the ways your staff can help your guests have an amazing visit this summer and maybe even stay a day or two longer!” source Tourism Fernie.
KOOTENAY ROCKIES MARKETING INITIATIVES
Our spring/summer collaborative campaigns wrapped up this week, and some of the highlights of the first quarter (April to June 2015) include:
Google Photo Tours – Panoramic 360-degree photo tours will be completed over July 6-24 and will be uploaded onto each partners listing on KootenayRockies.com and the Kootenay APP. There are over 90 partners participating.
Kootenay Rockies Golf Flyer – The 2-sided one page Golf Flyer has been inserted into 4 newspapers including the Edmonton Sun, Kelowna Capital News, Lethbridge Herald and Red Deer Advocate. Over 118,000 copies were delivered directly to each newspaper subscriber’s home as a special insert.
There were 15 Kootenay Rockies spring/summer projects that were completed in the first quarter, all of which embraced Destination BC’s new brand. The publications included the Van Dop Cultural Guide, Kootenay Mountain Culture, Calgary Bride, RV West Spring & Summer issues, Inroads with the Lethbridge Herald, Spokesman Review Summer, Discover Golf (Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Regina Leader Post, Saskatoon Star Phoenix), Where Canadian Rockies, Riders West and Discover Summer (Calgary Herald and Edmonton Journal).
Many of our fall/winter project details have been uploaded to our business site KRTourism.ca. Deadlines are approaching, be sure to sign up for our fall consumer shows, magazine campaigns, winter consortium billboards and television initiatives. Click A to Z to find out more!
TEAM MEMBER PROFILE – EMILIE CAYER-HUARD
This month our staff profile is featuring Emilie Cayer-Huard, our Community Development Specialist. Emilie is celebrating her 4th anniversary with Kootenay Rockies Tourism on July 4th. Those of you who do not get a chance to work with Emilie in the Community Program area, might appreciate knowing a little more about her.
Emilie came to BC from a small town in Quebec, after spending a few years in France enjoying skiing in the Alps. In France, she received a Bachelors degree in ‘Management and Development of Mountain Areas’ at the University of Aix-Marseille. She took a further step at the Institute of Alpine Geography, in Grenoble, and obtained a Master’s Degree in Geography, specializing in ‘Sustainable Tourism and Destination Development’.
Emilie met her husband and mountaineer partner, Herve, in France and they decided to move back to Quebec. But the mountains were calling and they relocated to BC in 2010. They are very happy to be living in Kimberley now with their almost 2 year old daughter Eva, who is already speaking both French and English. Both Herve and Emilie love climbing and skiing in the mountains surrounding them whenever they have free time.
Emilie is a consummate professional and has a dedicated passion for tourism and in particular community development. She has been instrumental in assisting our regional communities and consortiums with their tourism plans. As we move into our new roles next fiscal that will include more Destination Development, Emilie will continue to be a valued asset to our team.
KOOTENAY ROCKIES AGM & TOURISM INDUSTRY CONFERENCE
The 2015 KOOTENAY ROCKIES AGM & TOURISM INDUSTRY CONFERENCE will take place at the Regent Hotel in the beautiful mountain town of Revelstoke on October 6 & 7, 2015.
This event would not be possible without the support of our valued sponsors and the generous donations to our Silent Auction. An investment in our event Sponsorship program provides an outstanding opportunity to support this premier regional tourism event and to position your organization as a regional leader. This is the opportunity to reach almost 100 regional tourism partners including a wide range of business owners, senior management and key decision makers from the Kootenay Rockies region and beyond.
Sponsorship opportunities are limited, please click for 2015 SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES.
We are also currently accepting Silent Auction items. The Silent Auction is a great way to promote your product and experiences to tourism professionals from the Kootenay Rockies region. Please contact Corinne at: Reception@KootenayRockies.com to donate to the Silent Auction.
The Tourism Industry Conference AGENDA and ACCOMMODATION information is available now. Registration will be open in July.
THANK YOU TO OUR CONFIRMED SPONSORS!
ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR SUMMER VISITORS?
The Kootenay Rockies guides are available for free distribution. Keep your visitors informed of everything there is to see and do while they are visiting your community. Order Kootenay Rockies brochures today and fill your display rack. To order your guides contact Karen@KootenayRockies.com.
