Tuesday, April 23, 2024
CHELAN - The competition is not between the people in the room, but the ones beyond our borders and region.
That was the message Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) CEO Glenn Mandziuk gave to representatives from Okanogan, Douglas and Chelan County at the NCW Regional Tourism convening on Wednesday, April 12
The group gathered at Rio Vista Winery along the Columbia River to discuss how they can cooperate and work together to promote tourism throughout the interior Cascades of British Columbia and Washington along Route 97.
Overall, TOTA has been successful is garnering tourists from all over the world and in 2010 alone they generated over $1.7 billion to the regional economy. So they came to the meeting basically pitching cities along Route 97 to buy in to their website.
“We use Facebook the most, but also a Route 97 wire that serves as a newsletter,” Industry and Community Development representative Simone Carlysle-Smith stated. “So we have a database of people that we talk to every quarter.”
Carlysle-Smith said the website is effective because it looks more like an actual website with instead of an ad and is user friendly.
In addition to the promotional website, which received 72,000 page views since launching in April 2016, TOTA runs a yearly mapguide with a circulation this year of 50,000.
“We have these iconic places, that we might take for granted, but there are people all over the world that are interested in it, so I think that this does take us global,” Okanogan County Commissioner and North Central Washington Economic Development District (NCWEDD) board member Chris Branch said.
“We love where we live, but we also might forget the value, so to effectively market community we need to step back and figure out how to bring people here,” NCWEDD Executive Director Karen Francis-McWhite commented. “But another component of that is partnership, we have to think how can we prove the energy being put in are getting in front of eyes and translating into dollars. Also we need to think about why we stay here on those bad days, and how we can get away from the negative stories that can negatively impact tourism?”
Francis-McWhite said the first thing she saw on the news when she typed in Okanogan was about mud slides.
“If I’m a Seattleite and I want to get the heck out of the city and go mountain biking through the Entiat valley and I’m seeing the first hit of information being mud slides and winter weather, I might reconsider,” Francis-McWhite asserted. “So when we think about telling people why we live here, we need to be proactive in countering and responding to negative stories which keep people at bay.”
One of the attendees suggested that Canadians are more hesitant to visit the United States based on the perception that they will be hassled by immigration.
“I totally respect that, and I have talked to a number of Canadians who say they are comfortable to drive across and be in range so to speak of the border,” Mandziuk chuckled, “but there is definitely a decrease in Canadian travel by air.”
Some attendees rejected that premise though and said the best thing to do is to talk about regional experiences, events and activities Canadians can do throughout the year and not make the border a big issue.
“That is getting in front of the issue, and the kind of disaster resiliency to control the message as opposed to reacting to it,” Francis-McWhite said. “It is especially key to have a mobilized response after a disaster or fire.”
So instead of the media just hammering on the disaster and the people affected they can solicit coverage when the smoke clears to get visitors to come back.
This also plays into seasonality since the majority of income is generated in two or three months of the year and if a crisis happened, it could devastate the local economy.
“Prior to 2012, if was clear from our industry's perspective that we were a highly seasonal destination with 80 percent of our yearly income generated in two months,” Mandziuk admitted. “So we took effort to do a regional strategy with 90 communities and 32 first nation communities because a sense of working together is critical to the success of the region. By the end of 2012 all 122 communities agreed and it was nationally endorsed, and at the end of the day, they saw positive impacts. No longer was it a 80-20 ratio for income, but more 60-40, so we expanded deep into October and the start of May.”
Mandziuk stated that yield rates have gone up and lodging can charge more for their nights because they are offering a better experience.
“The way we address seasonality is partnership, and no single destination can do that,” Mandziuk asserted.
For dealing with crises, Mandziuk said the key is having a pre plan, “otherwise you are behind the eight ball.”
“What we are trying to uphold is integrity, and reputation for being a safe and desirable tourist destination,” Mandziuk said. “So we provide facts and updates to balance media attention away from the sensational.”
TOTA also has a 10-step action plan which they institute in times of crisis:
• Assemble a crisis team.
• Gather facts and information.
• Assess impacts.
• Develop key messages tailored to events and prepare background information for media.
• Brief board, staff and stakeholders to coordinate a response.
• Issue a statement.
• Hold media briefing to ensure consistent communication across all channels.
• Monitor/manage intelligence.
• Provide regular updates through media.
• Advocate for funding once crisis is over.
To conclude the meeting, Francis-McWhite urged attendees to sponsor the Route 97 Partnership for 2017/18, market with Route 97 through TOTA’s digital website or print map guide, develop or support a disaster marketing resiliency plans, join the NCWEDD and continue the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
The NCWEDD will next meet on Wednesday, May 10 at 9 a.m. in the Chelan City Council Chambers.
Zach Johnson can be reached at lcmeditor@gmail.com or (509)682-2213
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here