With the 2020 tourism season clearly not on, the recovery plan for the North Coast Tourism sector is already in motion, with Tourism Prince Rupert looking to access assistance towards a Northwest Regional marketing campaign.
And as the move forward with their efforts, the local Tourism organization is seeking a letter of support from Prince Rupert City Council tonight, as they look to apply to the Northern Development Initiative Trust towards their regional approach for a recovery program.
In their submission for Council tonight, Prince Rupert Tourism outlines the background to the current tourism concerns; as well as their proposal for the recovery program and how they envision it all coming together.
As restrictions begin to be lifted over the coming months, Destination BC predicts that travel will continue to be restricted for some time, with leisure travel to start first with local travel, followed by regional, then provincial, and finally national travel.
International travel & cruise will likely continue to be restricted into 2021. In light of this prediction, we aim to promote the Northwest region of BC, from Haida Gwaii to Smithers, within our region from August to October 2020. Each DMO has also been affected financially, for example, by loss of funding through the MRDT / Municipal Hotel Tax, and by joining our efforts to develop a shared campaign, we hope to build capacity & leverage funds for greater impact.
The proposed Travel Northwest BC Regional Marketing Campaign will include the development of a documentary-style video highlighting the main tourism & outdoor adventure offerings of each community, tying them together with scenes of the drive between each community down Highway 16 along the spectacular Skeena River.
The video will promote the driving circuit between Smithers-Terrace- Kitimat-Prince Rupert, as well as the BC Ferries connection to Haida Gwaii. The video will be promoted by each partner DMO through sponsored social media advertising on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, as well as through paid promotions in local media outlets.
In the background piece for Prince Rupert Council, Tourism Prince Rupert's Executive Director, Ceilidh Marlow and Tourism Prince Rupert President Scott Farwell, highlights how the recovery program would be ready to launch, as soon as the province indicates that it is safe to move forward with the program.
To build upon the video marketing, a new "Northwest Tourism Deals" book will be created, with each community securing between 20-40 coupons & discounts in their community for inclusion. The book will incentivize the regional travel highlighted and promoted through the video campaign by offering exclusive deals & discounts in each community.
The objective of this campaign is to generate economic activity for each community's tourism sector by cross-marketing what we have to market as a region. The campaign will only be launched when it has been deemed safe to travel regionally in Northern BC.
However, by planning for recovery & developing the necessary assets now, we can be prepared to launch as soon as it is safe to do so.
Council members will consider the request for a letter of support as part of their agenda for the 7PM council session.
For more notes related to tonights Council session see our archive page here.
Further items related to Tourism Prince Rupert and the tourism sector in the Northwest can be explored from our archive page here.
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