Travel Trade Update – Sept 24, 2009

During the latter part of August, Doug Treleaven, Sales Manager, Travel Trade, visited key tour operators based on the East Coast, in conjunction with colleagues from Tourism British Columbia and Tourism Vancouver. Sales calls were made to 15 operators and destination training sessions were given to a total of 167 reservations agents.  

 

As well, on August 28, 2009, Tourism Victoria participated in Discover BC, an annual event sponsored by Tourism BC. At the event a 15 minute ‘new product’ presentation was made to 82 Receptive Tour Operators and airline representatives. Six tourism regions from around the province presented, including Vancouver, Whistler and Victoria. Victoria’s presentation was very well received, with particular interest in the growing amount of non-stop service available through Victoria International Airport allowing for additional itinerary planning.   

Sales Update – Meetings & Incentive Travel – Aug 12, 2009

Kelly Pitt, Sales Manager, M&IT and Heather McGillivray, Director of Sales recently attended the MPI-World Education Congress, a four-day conference comprised of educational sessions and a 2-day tradeshow component. Tourism Victoria joined the Canadian Tourism Commission booth along with Tourism Vancouver, Tourism Whistler and other Canadian destinations. Tourism Victoria was able to connect with potential clients, even with a decrease in attendance -approximately 2,800 delegates (5,000 in 2008). This conference will be held in Vancouver in 2010, providing pre/post and other sponsorship opportunities to Victoria.

Kelly Pitt also recently attended Trailblazers in Toronto. The selected buyers at this unique educational marketplace are senior employees of North America’s most qualified incentive and meeting planning companies and have the ability to influence site selection with corporate clients. Tourism Victoria had 25 client appointments and met with 18 incentive buyers during this three day networking event. All 25 clients requested additional information on Victoria; five clients very interested in visiting Victoria on a Familiarization Tour or Site Inspection and one client has a possible lead for Victoria.

Sales Update – May 20, 2009

Your Travel Trade representatives have been busy this spring, with sales calls to AAA Washington, AAA California and AMA agencies in Edmonton and Calgary (as well as tour operators in those areas). In addition, presentations on the destination were made to Tourism Vancouver summer travel counselors and we participated at front line staff/concierge trade shows in both Vancouver and Seattle and the Clipper Vacations trade show.
 
We attended Spotlight Canada in the UK (leads list already online under Member Resources), made sales and training calls with Tourism British Columbia in Mexico and last week completed a total of 101 appointments at Rendezvous Canada. The leads list from the latter will be available shortly and notification will appear in an upcoming newsletter.
 
In the midst of all this, we are enjoying a busy FAM (Familiarization Tour) season too! The last few weeks have been extremely busy with travel influencers from Australia, Canada, Denmark, UK and the US. For more information please contact Doug Treleaven or Michelle Edington, Sales Managers, Travel Trade.