January/February 2010
|
 |
Travel Alberta Update
Engaging Edmonton Partners to Grow Tourism Together by Bruce Okabe Chief Executive Officer Travel Alberta Engaging Alberta’s tourism industry in Travel Alberta marketing, consultation and learning programs is one of the most important initiatives of our new Business Strategy that has been approved by our Board of Directors. Given the current challenges of the global economy, our industry relations programs are more critical to your success than ever before. After all, Travel Alberta has nothing to sell. Our marketing programs are designed to enable you to put heads in beds, hips though turnstiles and bums in seats. Travel Alberta fosters strong industry partnerships through our industry market readiness programs and value-enhancing co-operative marketing opportunities. We have already begun to collaborate more regularly with Edmonton Tourism to share and involve the Destination Marketing Organizations in our marketing planning process. We are looking forward to sharing our plans with Edmonton’s tourism community at our annual Open House on Tuesday, Feb. 2 9a.m. - noon at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Centre, 11834 Kingsway Ave. If you’d like to learn more about opportunities to partner in Travel Alberta programs in any of our long-haul or regional markets in 2010, please visit www.Industry.TravelAlberta.com to register. I am looking forward to seeing you there and introducing our new Vice-President, Marketing Jon Mamela. Also attending the Open House will be the Edmonton and Area Tourism Destination Region. Governed by a local board of directors, the TDR’s priority focus is providing fair access to co-operative funding for all industry consortia with the goal of increasing tourism for the region. Another effective marketing resource for Edmonton industry is our team of Regional Marketing Consultants. They are available to provide ongoing feedback and coaching, as well as assist operators in responding to changing trends and markets. In Edmonton, marketing advice and support has been provided most effectively by our Urban Regional Marketing Consultant Lisa Lima who is available, at no charge, to assist Edmonton operators and consortia with your marketing activities. Lisa ‘s experience includes four years as Director of Marketing for West Edmonton Mall and six years at Schawk Inc. (Kellogg Canada) as Creative Manager and Creative Director. Lisa currently works with the Edmonton attractions group, major events organizers, arts development groups and culinary tourism operators. She is also actively involved with the Edmonton hotel forecasting model. Feel free to contact Lisa anytime at Lisa.Lima@TravelAlberta.com or 403-475-8710. Lastly, consider signing up for one of the upcoming Travel Alberta leaning opportunities. Last year, more than 350 operators attended five Tourism Marketing Learning Workshops and five Speaker Series sessions in Edmonton. Upcoming Edmonton sessions include a Communications Workshop on Feb 5, an Online Marketing workshop on March 5 and a workshop on Social Media Basics, March 19. Visit www.Industry.TravelAlberta.com/workshops for more details and to register. As you can see, there are many opportunities to become involved with Travel Alberta’s programs and services. Our commitment is to keep in touch with you, through our communications channels and this space generously provided by Edmonton Tourism. I hope to hear and work with you often during 2010 as we work together in partnership to grow tourism in Edmonton and Alberta.
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
