Marketing and selling your tourism product in international markets can be a daunting, expensive and time-consuming undertaking. Rendez-vous Canada – our country’s largest international tourism marketplace makes it easier to connect international buyers with Canadian sellers of tourism products and services.

The marketplace’s pre-arranged 12-minute appointments get you face-to-face with tour operators, wholesalers and packagers from Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America.

“Rendez-vous Canada is a great way not only to meet international buyers, but the buyers who are specifically interested in Canada,” said Michelle Gervais, President of Ô Tours and regular RVC attendee.

“We have many international tour operators that carry our products and RVC helps us keep up ongoing relationships so we don’t have to go meet them in their offices,” added Doreen Booth, Sales & Adventure Specialist with Churchill Wild. “It also gives us access to new areas, making tour operators more aware of what we offer.”

Booth added for newcomers to RVC, the one-on-one meetings are a great way to introduce yourself – to put a face and a name to your product – while taking advantage of the huge cost savings in not having to fly all over the world.

“Face-time is always beneficial when dealing with international buyers as you can ask questions about their clientele, their interests and start building the relationship with the operator,” said Gervais. However, she noted that building those relationships takes time. “Anyone looking at getting into international markets must give it a minimum of three years to get any results. The cycle from launching a new offer, to getting it into the operators’ catalogues, to seeing actual sales needs a long-term commitment to the market.”

Travel Manitoba can help you with that commitment. While our delegation to RVC works on behalf of our tourism industry to drum up interest in the province as a whole, we also provide support to individual operators who attend. This includes some financial incentives and detailed “how to’s” for first timers, and even more extensive support for industry members who participate in our Featured Supplier partnership opportunity. 

We are able to offer our Featured Supplier partners a significant amount of market research, including product audit reports, market intelligence, trends and leads. This information is invaluable for operators looking to make the leap into international markets.

For more information on how we can help you at RVC or the Featured Supplier program, contact: Dené Sinclair, Manager, Global Travel Trade Relations.

Why do travelers make certain travel decisions? Why do they decide to attend a music festival over going hiking? Different types of customers seek out different types of tourism experiences.  And how do you, as a tourism industry operator, know which type of customer is looking for yourproduct and what is the best way to reach them?

The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) has developed a new and innovative market segmentation tool to help you answer those questions. The Explorer Quotient (EQ) goes beyond traditional market research to find out why people travel and how their personal beliefs, social values and view of the world shape the type of travel decisions they make.

Travel Manitoba has invested in this tool to help Manitoba tourism businesses with their marketing plans and tourism development strategies. Using the EQ program, you can better understand your customers, the types of experiences they are after and the kind of message that will resonate with them, giving you a competitive advantage.

You can learn more about the EQ tool at the Manitoba Tourism Conference, September 10-11. The conference content will be based on three sequential workshop modules: an intro to EQ with the EQ Bootcamp, how to use EQ to build an experience and how to market using EQ.

Contact Rick Gaunt, Manager of Research for more on the Explorer Quotient or for more on the Manitoba Tourism Conference, contact Laurenda Madill, Manager of Experience Development.

Manitoba’s fishing and hunting outfitters and lodges are a big part of this province’s tourism industry. How big? Well, until recently we really couldn’t be certain. But a 2010 economic assessment of Manitoba’s fishing and hunting sector showed that total spending in Manitoba by hunters and anglers totaled $469.1 million.

Although fifty-four percent of that total was spent on transportation, including vehicle and boat purchases, fuel, etc., that spending generated 6,180 full time jobs – nearly 1.2% of Manitoba’s employment, while revenue for fishing and hunting lodge operators stood at almost $35 million, or about 7% of total spending by anglers and hunters.The assessment surveyed over 130 operators and 429 licence holders across Manitoba, Canada and the U.S.  The assessment showed that satisfaction with Manitoba’s fishing and hunting was great at nearly 8 or higher on a scale of 10.

One of the highlights of the assessment is not a statistic that can be found in the report – it is the fact that Manitoba operators participated, providing financial information so that the study could be completed.

“We were very pleased and appreciative of the industry participating in the study,” said Colin Ferguson, Travel Manitoba’s President and CEO. “Not only did it mean we had accurate data to reflect the importance of the fishing and hunting sector to Manitoba’s economy, it showed a willingness to join forces to find solutions during tough times.”

With the hunting and fishing sector facing economic, regulatory and environmental challenges, now more that ever there is a need for Travel Manitoba, the Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters Association (MLOA) and industry operators to work together.

“There is a bright future for Manitoba’s resource-based tourism industry, but those who feel most optimistic about it are also those who recognize the importance and value of becoming engaged in opportunities that can help grow their business,” said Paul Turenne, Executive Director of the MLOA. “Travel Manitoba serves a critical function in attracting visitors to the province, and we at the MLOA are eager to enhance and develop our relationship with Travel Manitoba to ensure our world-class hunting and fishing continue to draw more and more tourists to the province.”

In this spirit of collaboration, on April 12 we hosted the second annual Fish/Hunt Summit, attended by the MLOA and industry representatives from across the province. With a goal to indentify challenges and discuss new marketing opportunities, the summit reinforced that we are committed to working with the industry.

“Working directly with industry provides Travel Manitoba with the needed information to develop a fishing and hunting marketing plan for the future”, said Ferguson. “The Fish/Hunt Summit has proved an excellent vehicle for industry and Travel Manitoba to address many challenges including where to place marketing investment.

“This partnership is working, and I encourage more from industry to get involved,” added Ferguson.

“This is a rare opportunity to participate in a government entity and personally I see these meetings as such a great chance to partner, and am more than willing to share my time with you,” said Ron Dare of Bear Track Outfitters after the summit. “Now it looks as we may have an advocate beside a business community that delivers the hunt/fish product.”

The summit helped to clarify roles in terms of marketing, advocacy and intergovernmental relations. Based on the discussion, Travel Manitoba has outlined the following next steps:

• -We are committed to improving communication between our staff and members of the industry. Whether that be partnering on marketing opportunities or sharing market research, our goal is to find a better way to reach you with the information you need.
• -We will assist in fostering a better relationship with the Department of Conservation and Water Stewardship. While Travel Manitoba’s primary role is, and will continue to be, as a marketing organization, we will add our voice to that of the MLOA to encourage better cooperation in decision-making that affects the industry.
• -The recommendations of the industry will help us in formulating the annual Fish/Hunt Marketing plan.  Shel Zolkewich, Travel Manitoba’s Fish/Hunt consultant, will continue to work with you to make sure you’re aware of all marketing partnership opportunities.  Shel can be reached at:  shel@shelzolkewich.com.

We encourage you to view the report from the Fish/Hunt Summit, and the Fishing and Hunting Economic Impact Assessment and value your feedback on either.

When travelers are looking for that truly authentic experience, they go where the locals go. That is why the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) is turning to locals to help travelers plan their trips with Explore Canada Like a Local. The CTC campaign features a new website and mobile app that offer travelers real trip advice from locals and other travelers who know Canada.

Since no one is more of an expert than you on your own uniquely Manitoban experience or destination, visit www.explorecanadalikealocal.com to suggest a spot – upload dynamic photos or videos, a description and other relevant details to the site where travelers can browse by location or theme. From arts and culture, city breaks, outdoors, luxury and culinary experiences, the site easily helps travelers create, track and take their travel lists along for the ride. So help travelers find you by uploading your spot today.

To build Manitoba’s presence on Explore Canada Like a Local, Travel Manitoba is teaming up with the CTC to work with the Matador Network – the largest independent online travel publisher, with over 1.6 million unique monthly visitors.

Three members from the Matador Network’s team of journalists will travel to Manitoba to research for three features, six blogs and 12 lists of authentic Manitoba experiences that include a summer arctic adventure, Winnipeg’s culture and art, and a polar bear experience to be featured on both Explore Canada Like a Local and the Matador Network.

They are the friendly faces that greet visitors, answer their questions and help them decide what to do with their Manitoba time. Travel Manitoba’s Visitor Services team's Travel Counsellors play an important role in connecting directly with visitors and potential visitors.

But how do the members of this team work for you, members of our tourism industry? Let’s ask Lori Schmitt, Manager of Visitor Services.

“Time and time again studies show that if visitors have the opportunity to speak to travel counsellors, they are more likely to extend their stay in an area by at least one day,” said Schmitt. A Manitoba Tourism Education Council study states that “70% of a visitor’s buying decisions are based on positive human interactions”, many of which take place at one of the year-round or seasonal visitor centres located around the province. “That being said, the travel counsellors’ job is to provide visitors with accurate information about the products they feel that each individual tourist might be interested in.”

Our Visitor Services team is able to give tourists information on things to do and see in Manitoba with the help of our own signature literature, regional and local tourism guides, customized reference binders, plus other promotional brochures or literature received directly from you. By meeting the requirements, any tourism operator in Manitoba can have their brochures distributed through our Visitor Services network.

Helping visitors is the number one priority for the Visitor Services team, and by working closely with Parks Canada at the Explore Manitoba Visitor Centre at The Forks, the team is doing just that.

“Our partnership with Parks Canada to deliver service has worked exceptionally well,” said Schmitt. “The arrangement allows us to provide visitors to The Forks with a ‘one-stop’ service.”

The two teams work together to offer visitors all the information they need about travelling in Manitoba, plus additional information on federal parks both in Manitoba and the rest of Canada. Visitors can even purchase national park passes.

"For over 16 years, the collaboration Parks Canada has had with Travel Manitoba at the Explore Manitoba Centre, has been a win-win-win situation, benefiting both organizations and most importantly the public," said Marilyn Peckett, Superintendent, Manitoba Field Unit, Parks Canada Agency. "Our respective goals and mandates complement each other well and enable the public to receive  a full range of information in both official languages about the national parks, national historic sites and provincial attractions in Manitoba.  Parks Canada highly values its collaborative working relationship with Travel Manitoba."