Tourism Advisory Council of PEI

NEWS RELEASE

From left to right: --- Tourism industry members recently tried out the team-building ropes course offered by The Adventure Group, Roxanne Carter-Thompson (far left), in partnership with Tara Costello, Ahead in the Game (far right). This is a great example of the ‘un-conventional’ businesses and experiences that the Tourism Marketplace hopes to attract. The tourism industry partner groups showing their team-building skills are (left to right): John-Anthony Langdale, Tourism Advisory Council; Jo-Ann Thomsen, Meetings and Conventions PEI; Matthew Jelley, Cavendish, Beaches and the Dune Shores Tourism Association; and Don Cudmore, TIAPEI.

(Charlottetown, PE, February 8th, 2012) – A number of traditional tourism organizations are calling for new partners in other businesses and sectors to participate in the creation of unique packages to appeal to the meetings and conventions market.  Meetings and Conventions PEI, in cooperation with the Cavendish, Beaches and the Dunes Shores Tourism Association, the Tourism Industry Association of PEI and the Tourism Advisory Council will be hosting a business-to-business marketplace on Wednesday, March 7th, 2012 to do just that.

“We are pleased to work with our partners in tourism to broaden the invitation to the greater business community to develop new product offerings,” said Don Cudmore, Executive Director, TIAPEI.  “This event will take place just prior to our Annual Tourism Conference and it’s a great fit with our conference theme of Building Connections.” 

The agenda for the afternoon will include presentations by the Tourism Advisory Council on Strategy 2015, and, in particular, the vision for the meetings and conventions market as a key demand generator for PEI.  Meetings and Conventions PEI will set the stage with an overview on the market and how businesses can work with them to attract meetings and conventions.  This segment will culminate with a keynote address by Lynn Buckley, Lead Consultant with Agenda Managers from Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Her firm specializes in meeting planning and she will showcase trends, best practices and the benefits of partnerships in the meetings business.

The rest of the afternoon will be a series of eight-minute pre-scheduled, business-to-business appointments.  Accommodations, tour operators and event venues will have the opportunity to meet and discuss partnerships with attractions, artisans, entertainers and more.  Organizers are working hard to attract businesses that may not have seen themselves in the tourism or meetings market, but who have a product that might be a fit.  Matthew Jelley, President of the Cavendish, Beaches and the Dune Shores Tourism Association commented on the event, “Our region has been working to identify opportunities in the meetings market and to develop new offerings.  It makes a lot of sense for us to broaden the effort to partner with provincial-scope organizations and invite an Island-wide audience to get down to negotiations on new partnerships and packages.”

Tara Costello, owner and operator of Ahead in the Game, is looking forward to the marketplace. Her company recognizes that most organizations can benefit from increasing a collaborative mindset and skills. Adventure-based, experiential activities can shine a light on patterns that are working, as well as areas of improvement. She commented on the event, saying, “Our programs can be a great add-on for organizations or companies coming to PEI. I look forward to meeting with accommodation providers and meeting organizers to highlight this product as an offer. This afternoon marketplace provides a great opportunity to network and make connections that would otherwise take a tremendous effort to coordinate individually.”

Meetings in PEI represent a growth market for Prince Edward Island, contributing approximately $19.5 million from an estimated 200 meetings in 2009, according to a study by the Tourism Research Centre.  In 2011, Meetings PEI reported 257 meetings and 17,345 delegates.  These visitors are high-yield and have a high propensity for return.  PEI expects to grow its market share with the development of the new convention centre and Meetings and Conventions PEI is embarking on a new sales plan to capitalize on the added facilities, as well as the potential attached to the 2014 Celebrations as meeting planners seek increasingly unique, compelling and meaningful meeting venues and events.

The marketplace is open to all interested businesses, however, space is limited.  Pre-registration is required and interested businesses should visit the website to learn more, register and start requesting partner appointments: www.tourismmarketplacepei.ca.

For more information contact:
Pamela Beck
Central Coastal Tourism Partnership
902.963.3613
pam@centralcoastaldrive.com

Jo-Ann Thomsen
Meetings & Conventions PEI
902.368.2191
jthomsen@peimc.com

Visit the web site at www.tourismmarketplacepei.ca

Each year, the Tourism Advisory Council, along with the Department of Tourism and Culture, recognizes one PEI tourism operation which has successfully adapted The Gentle Island of Rejuvenation into their marketing materials.  This year, we will present the fifth annual TAC Brand Essence Award at the TIAPEI Annual Industry Awards in March.  The following award parameters guide the selection committee’s process:

• The Brand Essence Award will recognize an operator or organization that embodies the PEI message, Gentle Island of Rejuvenation.
• This Brand ambassador will not only bring the Brand to life through their marketing efforts, but also communicate the Gentle Island in their daily interactions with visitors.
• Marketing efforts should reflect the unique selling properties of the Brand, highlighting the red earth and cliffs, the miles of sandy beaches, vivid colours and the agricultural landscape.

The recipient receives not only this exceptional award, but also a $2,500 credit toward coop advertising with the Province.  They also get the opportunity to spend a half-day working session with our creative and strategy team from Heiro Marketing and their affiliates to help maximize the winners’ efforts for their 2013 tourism marketing and communications.

Are you a brand ambassador?  Know someone who is?  You can submit a nomination online here or call us to chat about your business or that of a colleague.  We would love to hear from you.  Comments welcome below as well – as always!

To inspire your nominations – or your future marketing initiatives, here’s a peek at the award presentation that was made for last year’s Brand Essence Award Winners, Cavendish Maples Cottages:

Cavendish Maples Cottages: 2011 Brand Essence Award Winner

Sharpening the Approach, the 2012 Annual Tourism Plan, was released by the Department of Tourism and Culture today at the annual general meeting of the Tourism Industry Association of Prince Edward Island (TIAPEI). The plan is developed in partnership with the Tourism Advisory Council each year and details the direction of the Department for the coming year.

The common thread with Strategy 2015 is Momentum-Invention-Mobilization and the tactical plan for 2012 responds to the strategic objectives in the vision for 2015.  Have a peek at the overview of the plan:

The official press release and presentation can be found online at www.gov.pe.ca/tourism.

Click here to view the full powerpoint as presented at the TIAPEI Semi-Annual Meeting.

With the annual fall tourism conference hosted by TIAPEI just around the corner, you should have received your President’s Christmas Reception invitation in the mail.  If you didn’t, don’t worry – as long as you are a tourism stakeholder, you can join us!  Just be sure to catch the rest of the day’s agenda as well… Not a bad deal!

With the annual planning cycle in place, we will be co-presenting the annual plan with the Department of Tourism and Culture in much the same way as recent years.  It’s been a busy few months of season evaluation, research, planning and annual plan development.  The Management Team for Tourism PEI start meeting in August and they bring the overall analysis and plan to TAC in October each year.  We work together to refine and develop the end product, which will be presented as Tourism Plan 2012 on December 2nd.

Immediately following that session, we are presenting the Evaluation Framework for Strategy 2015 and the interim report on our progress.  Working with the Tourism Research Centre at UPEI, we are developing a comprehensive accountability structure which will help to let us know if we are “moving the needle” year to year as we progress towards 2015 and the targets we’ve set collectively between industry and government.

2011 had its challenges for the tourism industry, but we’re looking forward to sharing the tactics for tourism growth in 2012 and discussing how it responds to the five year strategy objectives.  There are other great sessions planned with TripAdvisor, TIAC and the CTC as well as diversifying your markets and how you as an operator can help the industry ‘mobilize’ to develop and showcase the demand generators – coastal, culinary, culture, golf and meetings and conventions.  Check out the full agenda at www.tiapei.pe.ca and be sure to register – hope to see you there!

It has been far too long since the last blog post…!   In any case, we have decided to get the blog going again even though the strategy development process is complete.  It can continue to serve as a forum on tourism issues and progress on Strategy 2015… and hopefully become a tool and resource for industry as we work on “Objective #7: Heighten Industry’s Engagement in Strategy 2015″.  Any suggestions on the type of information you’re looking for from TAC and future blog post ideas are most welcome…!  Just drop a line in the comments section or send us an email.

The new five year tourism strategy was just launched at the TIAPEI Tourism Conference in Charlottetown – Strategy 2015: Momentum-Invention-Mobilization.

You can browse the document below or download the pdf by clicking here.

The TIAPEI Conference starts tomorrow afternoon and our launch of the new five-year tourism strategy for Prince Edward Island happens on Thursday morning, March 3rd at 10:45 am at the Rodd Charlottetown.  We’re hoping to see a lot of tourism operators taking part in the days events.  As you probably know from following this blog, the strategy was developed in consultation with industry and government partners over the last several months – a lot of hard work and many industry operators giving of their time to help chart the course.  More than ever before!  There were 150 operators who participated directly… not to mention many more who attended the preview last fall or followed the blog and news along the way.  We received emails and phone calls – all of which helped us to focus the strategy on what matters most to our industry, while keeping our customer-centric approach to tourism planning.  Come share the vision and take the 2015 challenge!  See you Thursday!

The Council is meeting tomorrow for some of the final review and plans for the Strategy 2015 launch at the TIAPEI Conference just a little over a week away!  This annual spring conference is a two day event and TAC always participates in the Marketing Campaign launch at this time, but this year, we also have the launch of the five year strategy.   After several months of industry consultations, research and strategy development, we are anxious to share the strategy directions with tourism operators and partners.  With the unprecedented level of industry participation, we are certainly optimistic that this strategy is responsive to both the industry and consumer demands in our business right now.  We had some excellent feedback in the fall at the last TIAPEI presentation and I think it has made the strategy stronger.  Another perk of partnership and collaboration – doing everything better…!

Hope to see you at the conference – come share the vision and take up the challenge to capitalize on the momentum!

You can register for the conference online at: www.tiapei.pe.ca/conference

The Tourism Advisory Council presented an update to industry on the Strategy 2015 process on Friday, November 26th, 2010.  Here is the presentation and we’d love to hear more feedback.  Just post your questions or comments below or contact us directly…!

Strategy 2015 Update to TIAPEI Nov 26

Tomorrow is the Annual General Meeting of the Tourism Industry Association of PEI.  Looking forward to it!  We participate in the annual and semi-annual meetings each year, along with the Department of Tourism and Culture, but this year, we have the added agenda item of updating the industry on our progress to date on the 2015 Strategy: Framework for a New Island Tourism Strategy.  We’ll provide a summary of what we have heard over the last several weeks, layered with the research and market trends findings from the work we’ve done so far.  We’re anxious to get industry’s reaction to the new directions and guiding principles that are taking shape for the five year vision.  The content will be posted here after the presentation tomorrow afternoon with a comments feature so you can provide your feedback right here if you are unable to attend, or if you’d simply like to take a little more time to read it over and respond.  Of course, if you’d like to chat directly, you know where to find us…  Hope to see you at the meeting tomorrow!