Mid-Year Tourism Report

Aug. 10, 2015

djsmithTypewritten TextSpecial Open Council Meeting2015-AUG-10Supplemental Item

Board

Tourism Leadership Committee Sasha Angus

CEO

Lesley Anderson

E.D. Destination Management

Kara Walsh

Destination Development Officer

Chelsea Barr

Destination Marketing Officer

Megan Beauregard

Stakeholder & Communications Specialist

Amanda Daly Visitor Services

Specialist

Helga Lange

VIC & Clerk

Part-time staff & volunteers

Visitor Counsellors

Amrit Manhas

Economic Development Officer

Peter McGee

Economic Development Coordinator

Robynn Baijus (temp)

Operations Coordinator

NEDC Organizational Chart Updated Aug 2015

CHAIR: Sandra Petryk Nanaimo Airport

VICE-CHAIR: Margot Holmes Vancouver Island Symphony

PREVIOUS CHAIR: Dan Brady Howard Johnson / NHA

David Mailloux Nanaimo Port Authority

Leif Bogwald Owner, Vancouver Island Expeditions

Leo Boon Independent Contractor

Jonelle Knowles Vancouver Island University

David Twynam Vancouver Island University

Douglass Legg Douglass Legg & Associates

Denise Tacon Vancouver Island Conference Centre

Diana Johnstone

Geoff Wallace Best Western Northgate (NHA appointee)

James Young Long Lake Inn (NHA appointee)

Odai Sirri Grand Hotel & Waterfront Suites (NHA appointee)

Tourism Leadership Committee

Then vs Now

$924,110 2009 total approx. value of City spending on tourism (in 2014 dollars) to support Destination & Tourism Nanaimo

$734, 139 2014 value of NEDC spending on tourism activities Includes $125,000 earmarked for product development through the TDF

Tourism Nanaimo undertakes more activities at lower budget. Additional activities since 2012:

Cruise, product and travel trade development

Meetings & conventions support

Grants program administration

Sport marketing

2nd visitor centre & roving visitor servicing

Stakeholder programs NBT, CYPT

Social media, content development and website management

Formal governance activities

Source: Destination NEXT, sample size 367 DMOs worldwide

DMO Roles Worldwide

Tourism Strategic Plan Goals

#1: Product Development

#2: Industry Partnerships

#3: Marketing & Public Relations

#4: Community Pride

#5: Accountability

TLC Direction for 2015

Market what we have more effectively

Maximize the value of local community

Capitalize on existing visitors & local markets

Develop meetings, events & festivals

Lean on DMO partners to reach beyond local

markets

MARKETING

#ExploreNanaimo Campaign

explorenanaimobc.com

Local market pride of place

campaign running May

Sept

Objectives:

1) Entice locals & visiting

friends/relatives to

experience things to do

in Nanaimo & Region

2) Grow our social media

audiences

3) Grow use of the

#ExploreNanaimo tag

Mid-campaign results

800 tourism passport downloads

1000+ passports distributed at VICs

6,000 website visits

Significant growth in social audience:

Facebook up 9.2% (to 6066)

Instagram up 34.9% (to 1861)

Twitter up 5% (to 8384)

360% growth in #ExploreNanaimo use

Delivering qualified traffic to

tourismnanaimo.com 2.5x more

pageviews & 3x longer stay on site

Share Vancouver Island Campaign

sharevancouverisland.com

The 3rd year of our award-

winning campaign (formerly

You Wont Be Sorry)

Market: Pacific Northwest

Timing: June - Aug

Objective: Grow awareness &

visitation to VI beyond Victoria

Leveraged: 3:1 ($55,000

campaign for $13,500 from

Tourism Nanaimo)

Go Vancouver Island Campaign

govancouverisland.ca

Markets: Alberta/Seattle

Timing: Apr June

Objective: Continue growing

awareness & visitation to VI

Leverage: 25:1 ($8,900

contribution for a $217,000

campaign)

Campaign visits up 24% over

previous year

Shifting Focus From Print to Online

2014 guide = 20% of total

marketing budget

2015 publications = 11% of

marketing budget

Increased investment in

website and online

presence

All publications available

online

Invested in enhanced

visibility in TAVIs guide for

greater presence earlier in

travel decision cycle

Website

Year-over-year (Jan 1 Aug 4)

61% increase in visits

55% increase in users

54% increase in pageviews

Averaging 14,800 visits/mo

Explore Nanaimo Blog

Posting 2-3x weekly

Delivers qualified traffic to

tourismnanaimo.com 2x more

pageviews and 4x longer site visit

than average

9552 views since Jan. 1 almost

100% growth YOY

Social Media - Facebook

6106 followers to date

14.7% growth in followers since Jan. 1

225% increase in average reach over

same period 2014 (organic)

254% increase in average likes/post

470% increase in comments/post

275% increase in shares/post

4th top referring site

Twitter

8442 followers

13.8% growth in followers since Jan. 1

BC Day Instameet Aug. 3

Province-wide event in

partnership with

Destination BC

19 participants

149 uses of

#ExploreNanaimo

hashtag in 1 day

475 new Instagram

followers resulting from

this event

Media Relations

Continuing to proactively grow our presence &

engagement with media

Attending GoMedia & TMAC media marketplaces

Regularly hosting writers

Leveraging partner programs

Proactive pitching

Digital Asset Management & Branded Content

Media coverage examples

- Air Canada En Route

Magazine

- KING 5 Evening Magazine

from Seattle

- TSN Live Broadcast

- usatoday.com

- Huffingtonpost.com

- CalgaryHerald.com

- Western Living

- Northwest Travel

Magazine

- Komo News in Seattle

- Yahoo Travel

- BC Magazine

DESTINATION

DEVELOPMENT

Destination Development - Product

Mt. Benson gondola product fam

Deep Discovery Centre event Feb. 19

feasibility study completion

steering committee

Supported Newcastle development

Hosted product development fam trip for SFN to 2 First

Nations cultural centres

TDF grant to support business plan development

Participated in consultation process

Destination Development - Grants

2 TDF intakes awarding $38,000 to 9 organizations

TDF Program Review in progress

MRDT grants program implementation

Implemented new sport grants program

2 sport grant intakes awarding $17,300 to 24 sport

organizations (3rd intake in Oct)

Estimated economic impact of funded events in 2015

approx. $4.5 million

Destination Development Sport, Travel

Trade & Cruise

Sport:

Built new website section with targeted sport content

Completed sport tourism plan working with sport steering committee

Travel Trade:

Seattle travel agent show

TAVI travel trade showcase

Asian receptive fam with top buyers from Chinese & Japanese tour

operators

Cruise:

Supporting 3 cruise visits with on-site visitor services

Hosted RCL executive on site visit with NPA

Supporting cruise product development efforts

Stakeholder Programs

Nanaimo Bar Trail

NBT 34 listings (at max. capacity)

Cedar Yellowpoint Trail

CYPAT 24 listings (up from 23)

Working to develop digitally

mapped versions of these trails

Website listings, brochure racking,

educational workshops, Tourism

Matters events

Hotel Tax Grants Program Live at www.tourismnanaimo.com/grants

Ongoing application intakes with quarterly application review & evaluation

Approx. annual grants available $450,000 45% for festivals & events (incl. sporting events)

35% for sport tourism initiatives (incl. minor capital upgrades for sport infrastructure)

20% for marketing associated with the events

Newcastle Island funding pending business plan completion and MRDT agreement addendum submission to Provincial Govt

http://www.tourismnanaimo.com/grants

VISITOR

SERVICING

Visitor Centre Operations

Northfield, Bastion (May 15 Sep 8), roving street team, events & conferences

Dragonboat

Silly Boat

Marine Festival

Blues Fest

VIU student orientation

Visitor Experience Survey

Staff fam trips to train other VICs on Nanaimo

Visitor Centre Statistics

2015 Q1 & Q2

% Change YOY

2014 Q1 & Q2

2014 full year

2013 full year

# Visitors 9,2