There is a new provincial tourism strategy in the works for British Columbia to be revealed on November 4th at the TIABC Conference. Destination British Columbia’s CEO Marsha Walden took over the helm a year ago, bringing with her a fresh perspective and the freedom to make some changes.
At first blush, the future looks seemingly bright with 5% growth forecast for tourism globally for the next 20 years, only Canada is losing position on the world tourism map, now ranked #16, as most desirable tourist destination, down from #8 in the last decade. Walden and her Destination British Columbia team, together with the Canadian Tourism Commission are readying to reverse the downward trend.
Highlights of the new British Columbia tourism strategy shared by Marsha Walden on September 11th at the Tourism Vancouver Island Conference include:
- A fresh mandate for Destination British Columbia will include marketing, destination development, strategic leadership and public awareness.
- A focus on key experiences including touring, city getaways, outdoor adventure, aboriginal experiences and skiing.
Five Priorities of The New Tourism Strategy
- Increased investment in marketing
- Revitalizing BC’s brand appeal toward building a magnetic brand.
- Supporting remarkable experiences.
- Agile visitor servicing
- Better collaboration, better definition of roles, specialization and enabling the powerful network of 18,000 tourism businesses in British Columbia
Industry Collaboration
It was The Web Advisors pleasure to collaborate with the Destination British Columbia marketing team on their brand revitalization project in March as they toured the province gathering input. Industry input sessions together with surveys provided the foundation upon which the new British Columbia brand is being built. We look forward to the new brand reveal in November and to learning how we can envelop it within messaging for our many tourism clients.
We are thrilled to learn of Destination British Columbia’s planned increase in marketing this great province of ours and are also encouraged to see prioritization of remarkable experiences and product development as they are cornerstone to marketing and ensuring delivery of British Columbia’s brand promise.
The Web Advisors are a proud part of the powerful network of tourism businesses in British Columbia, with tourism clients including individual businesses, consortiums, regional destination marketing organizations and a provincial golf destination marketing organization. We welcome the opportunity for increased collaboration in marketing this great province of ours as truly “a rising tide will lift all boats” toward a prosperous future for tourism in British Columbia.
If you would like to find out how your tourism business can integrate with the new tourism strategy for British Columbia, we would love to explore the possibilities with you.