NANAIMO – Tourism Nanaimo’s Marketing and Media Specialist, Chelsea Barr, has just been awarded the Employee of the Year Award at the Tourism Vancouver Island Annual Conference. The presentation took place during the gala awards dinner on Wednesday, September 16 in Campbell River. Each year Tourism Vancouver Island recognizes stakeholders who have significantly impacted the tourism industry in various ways. The Tourism Employee of the Year Award recognizes a tourism employee who has demonstrated exemplary work performance above and beyond the regular call of duty, thereby enhancing business and/or customer satisfaction.
Barr has contributed significantly to the development and promotion of tourism in Nanaimo. As the creator of the Nanaimo Bar and Cedar Yellowpoint Artisan Trails, and the lead on the development and implementation of this year’s #ExploreNanaimo marketing campaign, she uses her creativity and industry knowledge to develop programs that attract both media and visitor attention for Nanaimo.
In three years the Nanaimo Bar Trail has grown from concept to a collection of 34 ways and places to try versions of the city’s famous confection. The Nanaimo Bar Trail has garnered attention from prestigious media including Air Canada’s En Route magazine, the Huffington Post, Komo and King 5 News is Seattle and USA Today online to name just a few.
“Whether it’s creating new programs to draw attention to Nanaimo such as the Nanaimo Bar Trail, delivering impactful familiarization tours for media, judging the Nanaimo Bar tasting competition in her free time, or garnering stakeholder participation for a new Tourism Nanaimo campaign, Chelsea always gives her best and puts her all behind everything she does. She’s a passionate tourism industry advocate who works tirelessly to support the Tourism Nanaimo and Tourism Vancouver Island teams” explained Lesley Anderson, Executive Director at Tourism Nanaimo.
Corry Hostetter, Executive Director of the Downtown Nanaimo Business Improvement Association said, “Our organization has worked with Chelsea on many projects over the years. In particular, the #ExploreNanaimo campaign is an example of how I believe she has stood out as a leader in her field.”
Tourism Nanaimo is a division of the Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation responsible for marketing, destination development and visitor servicing for Nanaimo and Region. For more information, visit www.tourismnanaimo.com.