Tourism is one of British Columbia's most important industries. The traveller economy generates over $3 billion in export revenue annually. Tourism affects every region of the province and is part of the economic fabric of each and every community. British Columbia's tourism industry grew 1.2 per cent in 2011, generating $6.5 billion of GDP and employing over 126,000, translating to roughly 1 out of every 15 people employed in the province.
This growth is especially encouraging given challenges such as a high-valued Canadian dollar, economies around the globe that continue to be troubled and increasing competition from other jurisdictions.
Government's five-year tourism strategy, Gaining the Edge, has advanced the provincial tourism industry through targeted action in four key areas: leadership through partnership and coordination, focussed marketing, a world-class visitor experience, and removing barriers to sustainability and competitiveness.
Leadership through Partnership and Coordination
Destination British Columbia
Government collaborated with B.C.'s tourism industry to create a new industry-led, formula-funded Provincial Destination Marketing Organisation (PDMO) called Destination British Columbia. Destination British Columbia is a legislated Crown, and was officially launched on April 1, 2013.
Aboriginal Tourism Association of BC (AtBC)
The Next Phase: 2012-2017 A Five-year Strategy for Aboriginal Cultural Tourism in British Columbia has been released and government continues to partner with AtBC. Government provided a contribution of $1 million to AtBC in 2012/13, to further facilitate the development of Aboriginal cultural tourism.
Marketing Partnerships
The marketing partnership programs continued to build on previous year's successes. During 2012/13 there were:
- Through partnerships with over 100 communities across B.C., the Community Tourism Opportunities program leveraged over $1 million to support and promote local tourism initiatives.
- 13 sectors involved in the Experiences BC program, which provides funding and support for sector marketing activities. This results in a $760,000 provincial investment transforming into a $1.52 million investment.
- Investment of $6 million annually across the Province through the six Regional Destination Marketing Organisations for partnership marketing activities, primarily targeting B.C., Alberta and Washington.
- Increasingly, travellers are bypassing traditional sources of trip information and advice and using social networks to consult sources they trust: other travellers and friends. To support B.C.'s tourism sector, a new Online Reputation Management program was added to the series of Tourism Business Essentials guides and workshops. Over 750 tourism stakeholders participated in 22 Online Reputation Management workshops and over 100 participated in the new Online Reputation Management webinar.
Focused Marketing
2012 Summer Campaign
Government launched the '100 BC Moments' summer marketing campaign in mid April 2012. This targeted key long haul North America markets. Three strategies were used to achieve this goal - inspire, connect and capture.
- Inspire: A 14-foot-high '100 BC Moments' vending machine in San Francisco in mid May connected B.C. to about 7,000 individuals, but the vending machine video also garnered over 129,000 YouTube views, attention from over 180,000 Twitter users and over 40 media stories, as far away as India, Germany and Japan.
- Connect: The 100BCMoments.com site featured travel ideas from around the province, generated over 1.13 million page views. Connecting consumers to tourism business throughout the province was also a key component of the campaign. Over the course of four months, the campaign generated over 98,000 page-views of trip ideas, 350,000 page-views of tourism business special offers and over 61,000 referrals directly to tourism business websites.
- Capture: As a complement to the campaign, the '100 BC Moments' contest generated an unprecedented 115,000 contest entries, half of whom registered for future contact through email.
2012 Winter Campaign
The 2012/13 North America ski campaign was launched at the Toronto Ski, Snowboard and Travel Show, in early October 2012 with the theme of 'Ski It To Believe It'.
- The campaign was developed in collaboration with the Canada West Ski Areas Association (CWSAA), representing B.C.'s 13 destination ski resorts. The campaign website, www.skiittobelieveit.com, also included special offers and snow conditions. Visitors could sign up for an electronic version of the BC Ski Guide and enter a contest to win a $15,000 ultimate ski vacation.
- The key target markets were Ontario, California, and Washington.
- Initial results demonstrate strong results. While industry information will take some time to capture, data on the levels of consumer interest generated through the campaign are strong: 100,980 website visits; 780,000 direct e-mails to consumers who want further information on campaigns; 17,446 direct website redirections to industry (primarily ski resorts websites); and 40,860 contest entries, representing the second best ski contest in the past eight years, after the Olympic ski campaign.
2013 Summer Campaign
Planning and production for the 2013 summer campaign took place in the final quarter of 2012/13 and will launch in mid April.
Emerging Markets
- China: Investment and visitation from China was up in 2012. Marketing in China increased from $1.1 million in 2011/12 to $1.9 million in 2012/13, and correspondingly, visitation was up in 2012 by 18.2%.
- India: The 2012/13 strategy and tactical plans for India have been developed and co-op marketing campaigns with the Canadian Tourism Commission have been launched.
HelloBC.com
HelloBC.com is the Province's consumer-facing website. The technology powering this website has been upgraded, and deployed on five international websites (UK, Germany, France, Australia and India). Also, third-party user-generated reviews have been added to the North America consumer website through Trip Advisor. HelloBC's Facebook page has been refreshed to increase fans in priority markets. This has led to tremendous growth with a fan base of over 97,000. Twitter followers now number over 38,000.
Family Day
Among the many ways that Government supported efforts to develop and promote Family Day activities, Family Day content was added to HelloBC.com, and an email was sent to over 69,000 British Columbians in our consumer database to flag Family Day ideas.
World-Class Visitor Experiences
Visitor Centres
In 2012, 115 visitor centres located throughout all regions of the Province, welcomed over 2.7 million visitors. 90% of visitors were very satisfied with the Visitor Centre experience ("very satisfied" being the highest rating).
Tourism Labour Market Strategy
To provide services to visitors, tourism businesses need employees. The Tourism Labour Market Strategy (2012-2016) was released in June 2012. The strategy includes recruitment campaigns and industry-specific training in rural and remote areas, providing advice to employers on how to access under-represented talent pools like Aboriginal People, youth, immigrants, older workers and people with disabilities.
WorldHost
To provide travellers with world class experiences, tourism businesses need talented and trained staff. WorldHost Training Services equip frontline staff with the skills required to provide service excellence. In 2012, WorldHost launched online training for the first time with two customer service courses: 'Communication Tools for Service Professionals' and 'Customers with Disabilities'. WorldHost Training Services was also successfully licensed to the London Olympic Games Organizing Committee to train staff and volunteers ahead of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
British Columbia Magazine
British Columbia Magazine has over one million readers. The magazine was honoured for journalistic excellence in eight award categories at this year's International Regional Magazine Association conference, including Silver for Travel Feature for 'High Tide in Tofino'. In addition, the magazine was also awarded Best Photograph (Architectural, Landscape or Still Life) at the 30th Annual Western Magazine Awards for Bruce Kirkby's Tatshenshini River photograph.
Removing Barriers to Industry Sustainability and Competitiveness
Beyond the Border Action Plan
Provincial government agencies have worked closely with federal and state counterparts to improve the speed with which travellers can cross into B.C. This includes efforts to support actions in the Canada-U.S. 'Beyond the Border Action Plan' related to low-risk travellers, border wait times and visa processing.
Aviation Strategy for B.C.
In December 2012, B.C. launched its aviation strategy, Connecting with the World. While led by the Ministry of Transportation, Tourism was a key collaborator in the development of this strategy. Government is working to increase B.C.'s access to the world, especially Asia, and reduce the cost of air travel to British Columbia. For example, as of April of 2012 government eliminated the B.C. tax on jet-fuel, which is one component in increasing B.C.'s air competitiveness. B.C. continues to encourage the federal government to address Canada's air competitiveness issues.
Improved air access
- Virgin Atlantic Airways launched its inaugural service from London-Heathrowto Vancouver in May.
- Sichuan Airlines launched its inaugural service from Chengdu, China to Vancouver in June.
- Air Canada increased its daily, non-stop services between Vancouver and Sydney, Australia to ten flights per week over the peak December and January ski season.
- Air New Zealand increased its non-stop service between Vancouver and Auckland, New Zealand from November to March for the ski season.
- United Airlines launched a new direct service to Kelowna from Los Angeles in December.
Integrated Decision Making
British Columbia continues to be a global leader for sustainable and integrated decision making on the use of our natural resources. The Tourism Division ensures the sectors interests are represented and that barriers to sustainability and competitiveness are addressed.
Media Contact:
Media Relations
Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Responsible for Labour
250 387-2799