– Paul Nursey is the President and CEO of Tourism Victoria.
GREATER VICTORIA – It’s been a great summer for tourism in Greater Victoria, in statistical terms and in the recognition our destination is enjoying from coverage in some very prestigious and influential publications, including Smart Meetings and Rolling Stone.
Those of us who are deeply involved in creating and promoting the visitor economy know how much work it takes. One of our ongoing challenges is educating the public there is more to tourism than happenstance — the idea that all it takes is a sprinkle of sunshine and a pretty view and people will show up to fill our restaurants, hotels and shops.
Of course, most people today understand this is a naïve point of view. After three consecutive years of dynamic growth and contribution to our regional, provincial and national economy, Canadians understand that tourism is a serious driver of jobs, prosperity and opportunity.
As our region’s Destination Marketing Organization, we are charged with the task of promoting Greater Victoria to the world. One very effective way we do this is through our outreach to leisure and business travel media.
We continually cultivate productive relationships and invest time in our relationships with all levels of government to ensure we understand their needs and can be responsive to opportunities. A few of our recent successes speak for themselves.
In the August issue of Smart Meetings magazine, Victoria was listed among the world’s top-10 rising stars in the meetings and conference industry. This is a huge recognition for the Victoria Conference Centre and Business Events Victoria and the growing number of businesses that provide services to conference organizers and delegates visiting our city.
We are proud to be listed with other global up-and-coming cities. We put hundreds of hours into telling the story of our destination, and this accolade is tangible proof our efforts are working.
We are on the map for conference planners. And we are becoming ever more prominent with all travellers looking for an authentic and fresh vacation experience. This will only be amplified as we are currently being featured by Rolling Stone.
A six-minute video and online article by the iconic magazine documents Victoria’s splendour with a focus on our exceptionally vibrant live music scene. This is huge, with RollingStone.com getting more than 13.3 million unique visitors and 105 million page views per month.
To earn this coverage, we leveraged our provincial and federal partners at Destination BC and Destination Canada to amplify our pitch to Rolling Stone. I’m happy to say we nailed it and the resulting coverage is something all of us can be proud of.
