NANAIMO – A Tourism Marketing Plan prepared by Tourism Vancouver Island (TVI) has been delivered to the City as part of TVI’s contract to provide destination marketing and destination development services through 2017.
The plan identifies objectives and targets TVI has set for the next 12 months along with the strategies, tactics and performance measures TVI will draw on when completing this work.
Over the course of TVI’s 2017 service contract with the City, they will deliver a multifaceted marketing campaign to inspire visitors to choose Nanaimo as a place to stay and enjoy for a vacation or getaway.Key Points
The agreement with TVI ensures key tourism functions like destination marketing and development remain on track for 2017 while the process of re-envisioning the strategy, planning and delivery of City-funded tourism services across Nanaimo is undertaken over the next several months.
Highlights from the plan include:
- A single consumer-centric website that features journalism-quality stories, photos, videos, stakeholder advertising, an accommodation booking application and itineraries that encourage extended stays;
- A comprehensive digital marketing strategy that reaches Nanaimo’s primary market in the right place, at the right time and with the right repetition; and
- A printed vacation planner inspiring extended overnight stays to be distributed on BC Ferries and in Visitor Centre locations across British Columbia.
Work between the City and the tourism industry continues with the following undertakings completed:
- Application submissions for the Tourism Advisory Committee have wrapped up with a total of 32 submissions received;
- A partnership between the City, TVI, the Nanaimo Hospitality Association, the Nanaimo Port Authority and Harbour Air will see the establishment of a Tourism Ambassador Program to welcome visitors to Nanaimo this summer; and
- Applications for a Sports Tourism Grant, administered by the Nanaimo Hospitality Association, will be accepted April through May.