Local tourism agencies shift marketing to educate U.S. visitors
Local tourism officials are taking another look at how they market to the U.S. It is a move to stave off the impacts of the pandemic.
Their plans focus on passive actions such as enlisting marketing students to review current promotions. But some tourist groups are also looking at more direct tactics, including how best to explain Canada's COVID-19 regulations to Americans.
Mark Perrin, the executive director of Tourism Sarnia-Lambton, says the latter move is necessary to help attract and reassure Americans looking to travel to southwestern Ontario this spring and summer.
“We need to make sure the message is, 'Hey, things are under control here in Canada,':
Perrin says constant changes in regulations have confused U.S. visitors even between COVID-19 waves.
That includes, Perrin says, some unvaccinated Americans unaware they won’t be let in.
In 2022, he suggests spending a bit less on promoting local attractions and more on marketing material explaining the rules to Americans before they arrive.
“It almost goes back to those passport days, when that was the new thing required to enter Canada (for Americans). Now, we need to make sure that they know they need to be vaccinated in order to come. You know what we want is positive experiences and that starts right at the border.”
Ensuring Americans feel welcome is also important to tourism officials in London.
But unlike Sarnia-Lambton where U.S. visitors account for a high proportion of tourists, Americans account for only 10 per cent of overnight visitors in the Forest City.
Natalie Wakabayashi, a Tourism London director, supports a marketing change for Sarnia-Lambton. However, she wonders if evolving COVID-19 regulations at the border will make promotions challenging.
“You’re not the one dictating the rules and they’re ever-changing, so to stay on top of them is really difficult."
So, in London’s case, the city is looking to double-down on incentives, extending the ‘Stay a little longer’ campaign.
It provides those staying two nights at a hotel in London with a $100 Visa card to spend locally.
Tourism London has also turned to marketing students at Fanshawe College, asking them to study how to get more Americans to visit the in the coming months and after the pandemic.
For its part, Tourism Sarnia-Lambton has also used incentives aimed primarily at U.S. visitors.
But a coupon campaign is just one of the tools, Perrin argues, that is needed.
“We know that Windsor, London, Sarnia, we can put all our minds together and say, ‘How do we collectively attract people to each other areas?’”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.