Beginning with this issue of Membership Matters, a Tourism Victoria staff member will be profiled about their role in the organization.
This month: Michelle Edington, Sales Manager, Travel Trade.
How long have you been with Tourism Victoria?
10 years, in various roles.
Your title, Sales Manager, Travel Trade leaves a bit to the imagination, what exactly do you do?
I promote Victoria, specifically with Tour Operators and Travel Agents
Can you break it down for me in lay-man’s terms? What do you promote?
I meet with Tour Operators to have them include Victoria in their programs and itineraries. Some have a British Columbia itinerary which may or may not include Victoria. I let them know about the destination and why they should include it.
In some cases they’re not selling BC as a destination at all. The goal is to try to educate them on the area and why it should be included in their future programs and itineraries.
I also work directly with Travel Agents, as it is important to educate them on the destination. It’s the Travel Agents that sell the packages created by Tour Operators.
So where does the consumer come in to all this?
I never deal with the consumer directly, I’m dealing with the middle-man or in some cases the middle-men
How do you sell Victoria to that middle man (Tour Operators/Travel Agents)?
It’s competitive, a lot of the operators are selling other destinations, and the goal is to make Victoria stand out from other destinations by focusing on the unique points of the destination. For example, a lot of people have the misconception that it’s really cold in Canada and we get snow, so I need to educate them on the fact that we have such a mild climate, our flowers come out in February and that we’re a year round destination. If Tour Operators/Travel Agents are unfamiliar with the destination, I outline the destinations iconic activities such as, whale watching and The Butchart Gardens, and the Royal BC Museum. If they are already familiar with these offerings then I expand my information to include more unique things, for example, outdoor adventure and culinary tourism – that’s gone over really well in the last few years.
Where do you do this?
What happens a lot of times is that we go in market and visit the Tour Operators directly. My markets are Europe, Latin America and Australia, so I attend events often organized by the Canadian Tourism Commission. They put on a tradeshow and bring all the operators into one area and I conduct one-on-one meetings with Tour Operators and Travel Agents. Usually they last about 10 minutes and I get the opportunity to make new contacts or further establish relationships with existing contacts. Often I attend tradeshows within Canada; bringing international operators to Canada. The two tradeshows are Rendezvous Canada (a Canada-wide showcase) and Canada’s West Market Place (just consists of product for BC and Alberta)
Other than tradeshow’s what else do you do?
When I’m on the road I also conduct sales missions/sales calls, often in partnership with Tourism Vancouver and Tourism Whistler. We train reservation agents at the Tour Operator offices or Travel Agents directly. The training is important; if the awareness isn’t there then they’re not going to know how to sell our destination.
When you train, do you visit Tour Operators and Travel Agents that are currently selling Victoria and train them further on our destination so they can educate there consumer and up-sell products?
Exactly, we wouldn’t ever be training anyone who’s not selling Victoria. We train key accounts and key clients that are already sending quite a few consumers to the destination. We’re training front-line staff, so it’s a matter of making them aware of how to get to Victoria, what we have to offer and promote the packages they already are selling. Because they are selling so many destinations it becomes a bit crazy for them so we go in and reinforce and educate them on why they should pick Victoria for their consumers.
When you return from your trade shows and sales missions, what can the membership expect from you?
We take notes at our tradeshow appointments because Tour Operators are looking for new information on anything from hotels to outdoor activity suggestions. These meeting notes as well as contact information for Tour Operator are available to all Tourism Victoria members on the Member Extranet. Members are encouraged to contact an operator who is looking for a certain type of product they feel they can provide.
How often can members expect to see these notes on the extranet?
It depends on the tradeshows; we do have a list of the tradeshows we do attend, but generally we post our notes at least once a month, especially in the spring and fall.
Is there anything that our members can do to assist you with selling Victoria?
Always, it’s helpful if we have new product information. Operators, especially key accounts, are always looking for something new and different to bring consumers back to Victoria and to keep them here longer. It’s really important for the Travel Trade Department to be aware of changes, such as, renovations, new restaurants, etc.
- Kelsi Woodward, Communications Coordinator
