Geoff Ramsay, CEO, e-Marketer at ORC 2010 Conference, Montreal, Que.

Ramsay, CEO, e-Marketer, did not disappoint as keynote speaker at the 5th Annual Online Revealed Canada Conference at Delta Centre Ville Hotel in Montreal, Quebec. It was an action packed presentation with 67 slides and access to over 4,000 sources of information. Delegates were treated to the latest canadian stats & trends with online marketing,  media spending, search and display ads…

His presentation focused on the 7 steps to achieving success with Online Travel Marketing – 1) Keep doing search, 2) Don’t ignore the power of branding online, 3) engender trust, 4)  get social, 5) engage with online video, 6) go mobile and 7) capture intentions and mentions.

Mr. Ramsay also provided in his presentation – the 10 Best Practices for Social Media  – 1) Think Social marketing not media, 2) Know your objectives, 3) leverage trust, 4) Listening comes first, 5)  Join the conversation and add value, 6) Be authentic, humble and transparent, 7) Recruit from your core, target the influentials, 9) adopt a long term, real time approach and 10) integrate with other communications.

The 2010 PEI Tourism plan was presented by Tourism PEI and Tourism Advisory Council at the annual TIAPEI conference in late November 2009. The tourism plan concentrated on six areas this year – Culinary, Golf, Culture,  Convention Centre and Queen’s Wharf,  Integrated Tourism Solution and Communications. 

Some of the highlights of the 2010 PEI tourism plan include 1) more emphasis on social media and the internet and less on TV especially the Quebec market. 2) Marketing efforts will include more emphasis on festival & events and experiential tourism products. 3) You will be able to book online with adventure tourism operators and 4) PEI Tourism website will be more user friendly and easier to navigate. 5) Expect more visuals and videos on PEI’s website and more interaction by visitors.

For more information on PEI 2010 Tourism Plan that was presented by Tourism PEI and TAC at the annual TIAPEI conference, view the slideshow below.

National Geographic - Ten Best of Everything

Cape Breton is featured twice in National Geographic’s Book “Ten Best of Everything“. First as one of the top cycling routes in the world and of course that would include Cabot Trail.  Both Outside and Bicycling, two US publications, agree the Cabot Trail is an outstanding cycling route and have highlighted this in their magazines.

The other accolade is Hiking, where Cape Breton Highlands National Park, its hiking trails,  and the fishing communities around it have been name the top ten walks and hikes in the world by National Geographic ’s book – “Ten Best of Everything” . Hike the Highlands Festival would agree as it has been partnering with Cape Breton Highlands National Park for the past 6 years and is recognized by the Nova Scotia Tourism as a signature event. This year’s festival will be held Sept. 10-19, 2010.

 

Nova Scotia Official Tourism website - novascotia.com

It is a new year now and Nova Scotia has a new tourism plan for 2010. The target markets will change a bit with more emphasis on the Canadian Market for visitors but still working with its partners for long term growth in UK, mid -Atlantic States and New England States. 

The big news is the concentration on core experiences, packages and intineraries  for the visitor. An experiences toolkit will be developed and launched at NS Product Development day in April for the tourism industry. Watch for a relaunch of novascotia.com website focusing more on new media – videos, visuals, and social media.

Recently, Victoria County Recreation & Tourism Dept., Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, hosted Ms. Patricia Brusha, A Couple of Chicks e-Marketing for a Tourism Online Marketing Workshop – A Guide to Success on the Web.  Participants were exposed to the latest trends and issues in online marketing. E-Marketer indicates in 2008 study that 49% of all Internet users in US spending time on search engines along with 13% on social media sites.

One of the online trends is the acceptance of listening to friends and family on social networks as facebook, you tube along with reviews from travel sites such as tripadvisor. Eye for Travel indicate that 72% have been influences by other consumer reviews and 63.8 occasionaly use UGC in their buying cycle. Travellers believe more in reviews and family & friends they do with marketers.

Eye for Travel ’s European Online Travel Report -3rd edition indicates online travel market continues to grow at 10% while offline market decrease by 5-6% annually.

Below are some pictures of the Tourism Online Marketing Workshop held at Great Hall of Clans, Gaelic College, St. Ann’s, in Victoria County.  All delegates received a copy of the Online Marketing Revealed publication – A  Couple of Chicks Guide to Optimizing Your Presence on the Web.

The Olympic Torch was here in Baddeck on Monday, November 16th for about 30 minutes but it made an incredible impact on the lives of residents in this small village on Cape Breton Island.  They were part of history and so were five torch bearers who ran through this community including former Canadian Olympic athlete Ms. Julia Riyard, who compete in the Canoe/Kayak competitions in the 2000 Olympic Games.

The Olympic Torch Relay visits over 1000 communities in its 106 day journey across Canada.   People were lined up on the streets as well at the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site in Baddeck.  They were cheering their torch bearers on and waving their Coca Cola Pennants  and RBC tambourines and thundersticks… Everybody watched in awe when the torchbearer lit the next torchbearer torch and the relay continued.  In just 87 days, the 2010 Olympics Games will begin on February 12th in Vancouver BC.  Below are a few pics of this special moment in the Village of Baddeck :

Robert Deveau, Dawn & Margie Beaton performing at the Celtic Heart Launch

It was fitting that during the Celtic Colours Festival, the new marketing co-operative, Celtic Heart of North America was launched.  Geoff MacDonald opened with a Gaelic song and the Beaton sisters, Dawn & Margie on fiddles performed several jigs and reels accompanied by Robert Deveau on piano.

The purpose of the co-operative was to provide easier access & connections for visitors who wanted to experience the Celtic culture and music on Cape Breton Island. The partners of this new initiative are Celtic Music Interpretive Centre, Celtic Colours Festival, Highland Village Museum, Gaelic College of Celtic Arts & Crafts, Municipalities of Inverness County & Victoria County, Feis An Eilein and the Glenora Inn & Distillery. The Celtic Heart website and blog  are now up and running and were announced during the launch.

Check out the video below to see the Beaton’s sisters performing at Red Shoe Pub in Mabou, Cape Breton. They are amazing…

Two of Cape Breton’s favorite fall festivals are Hike the Highlands, Sept. 11-20 and Celtic Colours – October 9-17. What makes them unique is they are the forefront with Online marketing and social media. They are starting small and learning along the way..

Dan Coffin, Marketing Co-ordinator, for Celtic Colours, has seen a change in demographics and found social media, e-mail newletter and new media have helped increased visits (20% plus) this year to their website. Celtic Colours now has over 400 twitter followers, 1100 plus fans on facebook,  a promotional video on youtube ( see below), a great venue google map and an e-mail marketing newsletter with a goal of 1,500 subscribers. Coffin states online tickets sales are at 58%, up 4% from last year.

Last year, Hike the Highlands Festival had over 40% of hikers register online and expects this number will increase in 2009.  Facebook ads, Google adwords and e-mail newsletter along with online press releases & regular posts on our blog have keep us busy with new content on the web and attracting hikers to this annual September hiking festival.  “Our website visits in August are up 29% from last year,” says Tom Wilson, Chair, Hike the Highlands Festival. Wilson states we have hikers already registered from British Columbia,  Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador and  USA.

Both Wilson and Coffin agree that online marketing and social media has helped their festivals grow each year with more communication,  online marketing, and user generated content. Online booking and payment system has made it easier for people to purchase tickets and festival passes 24/7.

I have always been impressed with the work of my mates in Australia for the innovation in growing the tourism Industry. Three of my favorite examples are the Tourism e-Kit, Come Walkabout campaign and Australian Experiences Industry Toolkit.  I am adding Tourism Futures National Conference – “Re-Defining the Future”, August 17-19 to this list.

Tourism Futures National Conference, Gold Coast, Australia,  has focused its August conference – ” Re-Defining  the Future” into five subthemes - They are 1) Tourism Online Marketing and Distribution, 2) Destination Management – Policy and Development, 3) Business Events Tourism, 4) Consumer Research and Market Winning Insights and 5) Susitainability and Climate Change.  An impressive line-up of speakers  and conference program make this an incredible conference to attend.

Tourism Queensland just happens to be the place where Ben Works - The Best Job in the World and blogs regularly.

 

Travel & Leisure Magazine - August 2009

The readers of Travel & Leisure Magazine have voted in the 14th annual poll, and determine the winners in the World’s Best Awards for hotels, islands, cities, airlines, cruises and more. In the Island category, Cape Breton moved up from 10th in 2008 to 3rd place in 2009  for the best island in the world. Cape Breton also retained its top postion as Best Island in Continential US and Canada for the second consecutive year.

The 2008 & 2009 plaques from the Travel & Leisure Magazine can be seen at Destination Cape Breton Association office in Sydney. The tourism industry is encourage to promote this award and tell your visitors & guests of this honour.  Well done Cape Breton.