B.C.’s tourism marketing organization, Destination BC, is putting finishing touches on a rebranding effort that it plans to reveal later this year.
CEO Marsha Walden, who has been on the job six months, provided glimpses of what is to come when she addressed the Vancouver Board of Trade June 12.
She did not address whether iconic slogans such as “Super, Natural British Columbia” or “You Gotta Be Here” will be revamped but Walden sounded as though she supports some significant changes.
She lamented that both Canada and B.C. have lost global market share for visitors and pinned part of the reason for that drop on both regions not providing a compelling enough reason to visit now, resulting in potential visitor procrastination.
“Our brand still rates really highly but our marketing approaches have failed to build emotional urgency that is needed to keep us on the must-see-now list,” Walden said.
She noted that Canada’s share of the global tourist market has dropped from being 8th in the world a decade ago to being 16th today.
“While B.C. has outperformed the rest of Canada, we’re nonetheless losing our position as well [as the perception of] being a must-see destination,” she said.
“Disturbingly, we’re even more and more reliant on the domestic market to sustain travel spending. What was once two-thirds of our revenue is now 80%.”
Walden sounded keen to involve industry in marketing efforts and stressed the importance of tourism business owners actively engaging in social media.
As for spending, she hinted that there would be an enhanced focus on “co-op marketing that we make available to communities, sectors and clusters.”
Walden previously told Business in Vancouver that her goal was also to shift Destination BC’s spending toward marketing and trade-related activities and away from general administration.
This comes as her organization and other tourism bodies, such as the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC), grapple with much less funding than in years past.
“We can’t outspend the competition,” Walden told the Board of Trade. “I mean that quite sincerely. We have to outsmart them.”
The CTC’s budget shrank to $58 million in 2014, down from a high of $105.9 million in 2009. Other countries, such as Australia, have been ramping up tourism investments, Walden said.
