Patrick Sullivan Chief Executive Officer, Nova Scotia Tourism Agency
Good afternoon, everyone!
Thank you for coming.
The video you just saw highlights our incredible, abundant food culture in Nova Scotia, and the amazing service and experiences we have to offer around the province.
We know culinary is important to our visitors. And I’ll share more on how we will build on culinary this year a little later in the presentation.
I want to thank Ben for his remarks. The One Nova Scotia report has made it clear that we have to change the way we work to see different results – and that’s where our tourism strategy is focused.
The strategy was published about a year and a half ago now. I’m excited to align the work we’ve already been doing with the board and the industry to achieve the Commission’s recommendation to increase revenues to $4 billion in 10 years.
I’d like to thank all our board members for their work this year. It’s great to have some new AND familiar faces with us – Donna Sears, from Acadia and the Atlantic Wine Institute, Bruce Bishop of Bruce Bishop Communications, and Danny Bartlett with Northumberland Ferries and Bay Ferries.
I’ll just mention now that we’ll have a Q&A at the end of the presentation. Scott MacAulay will moderate. Please note your questions during my remarks and hold them until the end, when our staff will gather them from you. We’ll also have a couple of microphones circulating.
You’ll remember that at last year’s TIANS conference we focused on Getting Back to Business…we know you’ve all been working towards that goal this year, and that’s certainly where we have been channeling our efforts at the NSTA.
Last November, we moved to Windsor. Unfortunately, we lost a significant number of people during the change, but we are now back up to full capacity, enjoying life in the Valley, where it’s 10C warmer, and moving forward.
I want to thank the entire staff for their patience and dedication. I truly value their contribution and perseverance, which has been so much in evidence over the last couple of years.
We’ve been making some good progress since the last TIANS conference, and we provided an update to industry at the TIANS AGM in May, with the publication of our first NSTA Annual Report – available on the NSTA website. Consistent
Clarify roles
Collaborate Spend strategically
We are making decisions and staying the course for consistent results and maximum impact…
We are clarifying roles and responsibilities with industry, to remove any duplication and focus our efforts…
We are reaching out to our partners and operators to work together – something the One Nova Scotia report also highlighted…. and finally, we are spending strategically to generate the growth and profitability we are all seeking. Quality
We are supporting high-quality products and experiences for the best results, because we know that is what is going to make the difference.
As an example, six weeks ago I visited Peru for my vacation, one of the fastest growing tourism destinations in the world. What struck me was the breadth of opportunities for visitors to spend money.
It was great to see people embracing the entrepreneurial spirit and finding very simple ways to sell visitors things to do that create great vacation memories.
We have great trails here in Nova Scotia. We need our entrepreneurs to take the initiative and sell our visitors great experiences to enjoy, stories they will share with friends and family.
There’s no doubt that we need more visitor spending opportunities in Nova Scotia. We need investment in this province to expand OUR offering, and we need to focus on the best.
Industry investment in high quality is crucial for significant growth. Cabot Links, Silver Birch Hotels & Resorts, the ALT hotel, Jost Vineyards – with their beautiful new facility – and others are great recent examples.
Industry’s focus on – and investment in – quality is making a difference.
In 2015, we know there will be more improvements to come.
The opening of Cabot Cliffs…the brand new Black Loyalist Heritage Centre in Shelburne… and enhancements to Atlantica Oak Island Resort. In fact, my favourite show The Curse of Oak Island is running on the History Channel in Canada and the US right now – and the Resort will be ready for those visitors when they arrive next year.
Pier 21 is also currently undergoing a $25 million expansion to transform it into the Canadian Museum of Immigration - one of only two national museums located outside of Ottawa. Most importantly, the Museum will be promoting these changes to potential visitors in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes, through a major paid media campaign. Investing in the future
Across the province, we’re seeing positive results from tourism businesses that invest in high-quality, diversified product offerings…from accommodations, attractions and guided tours, to culinary and wine experiences.
We are working with these operators to optimize their online presence, and share their stories with potential visitors in our key markets.
Industry has made some significant investments, and so has our provincial government.
Government invested in the ferry to bring more high-yield visitors from the Northeastern US, and we invested in marketing to that region – we’re seeing the results in tourism. Among those non-Nova Scotia passengers surveyed on the ferry this summer, results suggest almost half were first-time visitors to our province.
The NSTA is also spending strategically – to bring more first-time visitors to Nova Scotia and encourage them to stay longer and spend more. Opportunities for growth
This year, our initiatives included a major press trip called Joy Ride – a unique opportunity for journalists from our key markets to enjoy and promote the best of Nova Scotia.
We associated the Nova Scotia brand with other world-class quality brands, such as the Boston Globe and Boston Red Sox.
We are working to raise the standard of quality in Nova Scotia – to ensure visitors have the best possible experience while they are here.
And we are supporting operators across the province to deliver and promote the best of Nova Scotia in markets that offer the best opportunity for growth.
Last year at TIANS, Minister Samson committed to supporting our campaign efforts in the Northeastern US, and we’d like you to see the results….. Moving forward
While we are seeing progress, we continue to learn and re-evaluate our approach.
We will take the lead in… identifying consumer opportunities for growth AND sharing the very best products, experiences and stories in our key markets Eat & Drink
We’ve also been working on a new internal initiative to focus on ways to raise the bar – and improve quality.
Along with the work we are already doing, each year we will set an annual focus to elevate the work being done across the province.
In 2015, our focus will be on culinary and wine.
Culinary is identified in the tourism strategy as an opportunity for growth – to differentiate Nova Scotia from other travel destinations in Canada and beyond.
In our recent NSTA online panel survey, seven in ten past visitors reported that our food culture was an important contributor to their decision to visit Nova Scotia.
Close to one-half reported their food and drink experiences were one of the best aspects of their Nova Scotia visit.
We’re still targeting the outdoor enthusiast. But culinary is a great complement to this target market. We know this audience appreciates a nice dinner or glass of wine after a hike or a whale-watching adventure.
There is an opportunity to elevate the importance of Nova Scotia food and wine as a reason to visit.
We also know we already have a strong foundation in culinary and wine – one that offers a competitive advantage….and we have strong partners who can support further growth…Taste of Nova Scotia, the Winery Association of Nova Scotia, and Select Nova Scotia, just to name a few.
Our staff have already been presenting to industry across the province to discuss how you can participate in our efforts to grow the best of our food and drink opportunities.
We know that if every visitor spent just $5 more a year on culinary, it would result in an extra $10 million in revenues. That’s a great goal to aim for.
I think this is a good place to mention that the NSTA recently partnered with the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia to update our Guide to Starting and Running a Restaurant in Nova Scotia.
This is such a great resource, full of tips, advice and new ideas to help you improve your restaurant.
You can find it on the NSTA website. Global trends
Moving forward, there’s so much potential for growth. Some of the trends we are seeing around the world are helping to identify where we should focus our efforts.
The latest results from the World Tourism Organization show that tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing economic sectors in the world – with 5 per cent growth in 2013. Global travel Arrivals (millions)
Arrivals will increase from 528 million in 1996 to a projected 1.8 billion by 2030. Canada and Nova Scotia must compete for our share of this growing market.
The expected increase in arrivals is about 3 per cent per year through 2030, but we know emerging destinations are growing at twice the pace of advanced economies. Inbound tourism by destination International tourism arrivals (millions)
Because of the growth in emerging economies, a shift is expected in the origin of these travelers, and where they choose to travel.
As you can see, Asia Pacific will start to rival Europe for dominance in country of origin tourism arrivals in just 11 years. Growth in overnight visitors Average annual growth
And China is expected to emerge as the dominant country of origin for overnight travel. [110 million]
We know travel is growing internationally – but we haven’t seen this level of growth in Nova Scotia in 15 years. We need to attract new visitors from these markets.
While we are making some progress through our initiatives with ACTP and CTC, we know we need to significantly change the way we do business in order to capitalize on opportunities related to emerging markets.
It will be a crucial way to increase our revenues and work towards the $4 billion goal. Canada
There have been significant declines in the Canadian industry over the past 10 years, however 2014 has shown some increases to the end of August.
Total visits to Canada are up 3 per cent, overseas travellers are up 9 per cent, and visits from the US are flat.
There were fewer [-1%] Canadians travelling to the US this year, though they have been vacationing there in greater numbers over the past few years.
When we look at visitors from outside Atlantic Canada, Canadians make up about three-quarters of our visitors, so it’s important we inspire them to choose Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia
This year, we have seen some promising signs of growth in the province.
That being said, we need to reach out to audiences in our key markets consistently over time - with a compelling brand and inspiring messages – to impact their travel during the crucial peak tourism season.
From January to September, overall visitors to Nova Scotia were on par with 2013 results. This flat result was not unexpected given our move away from the regional market in 2013, and our increased spend in longer-haul markets, like Ontario and the Northeastern US.
But, for the first time in many years, we have started to see increases in our accommodation numbers and in the revenues we are generating from high-yield visitors, who spend more. Nova Scotia visitation by air +8% +7%
Air visits have also been a bright spot this year. Year-to-date, air visits are up 8 per cent compared to last year – with growth from both Canadian and overseas markets. Peak season results
Our national advertising campaign runs from March to June – encouraging visitation during the peak travel months from June to September – when we know 50% of our visitors are arriving.
During the peak season, overall visitation to Nova Scotia was also flat compared with 2013, but air increased 7 per cent. Moncton party $760 over 3 days
German party $3,300 over 14 days
To support our focus on the higher-yield visitor – who is more likely to travel by air – I’d like to point out that the economic impact of visitors from different markets varies a great deal.
On average, a travel party from Moncton spends $760 and stays 3 days. A travel party from Germany averages $3,300 and stays 14 days. Ben would tell us that visitors from the 416 area code spend significantly at his resort.
We need to focus less on visitation and much more on revenue. As operators, you know that’s what pays the bills. Revenues 2014 accommodations revenue estimate (cumulative $000’s)
Total $237 Million
One of our strategic goals is to significantly increase revenues.
To measure our progress, we introduced a new tourism indicator this year – an estimate of accommodations revenues, which is based on the number of room nights sold and the average room rate.
Moving forward, we want to measure revenues based on overall visitation. Until we get there, room nights sold will serve as a proxy for tourism dollars spent in Nova Scotia.
To the end of September, room nights sold have generated $237 million in revenues, an increase of $10 million over 2013.
Stats Can reports that spending in restaurants and bars is up 7 per cent for the month of August compared to last year – likely influenced by the higher-value visitors in the province. [allnovascotia.com story confuses the message]. Room nights sold
The increase in room nights sold year-to-date is the largest year-over-year increase we’ve seen since 2002.
Of course, we all want to see this happen year…after year…after year. While this is just one year’s result, not a trend, it is a good foundation to build upon.
And it seems to hold with what I’ve been hearing anecdotally from operators across the province this year – business is better than it has been in a number of years. Five-year strategic goals 1. Increase overnight visitors by 1% per year 2. Increase non-resident revenues by 4% annually 3. At minimum, maintain room nights sold outside Halifax at 2012 levels
The Ivany report stated that our strategy is a great place to start when it comes to building for the future.
And, I believe that our focus on first-time visitors is beginning to show some benefits.
This slide outlines our strategic targets over the five years of the strategy.
[1] Our first goal is to increase visitation by 1 per cent each year.
This year, we are on par with results from 2013.
[2] We want to increase revenues 4 per cent in each year of the strategy.
According to revenue generated by room nights sold, we have hit this target in 2014. But we’re still working to capture total revenues spent by visitors based on overall visitation.
[3]Our strategy also states that we will, at least, hold room nights sold outside Halifax to 2012 levels. Room nights sold January to September
+3% +4% Outside HRM
Halifax Metro vs. outside Metro
To the end of September, room nights sold outside Halifax were up 4 per cent compared to 2012.
As this slide shows, they are up 3 per cent year to date compared to last year.
In the Halifax region, we saw a 4 per cent increase this year. This is important, as Halifax accounts for 54 per cent of our provincial accommodations year-to-date.
We also saw some good results in our regional accommodations this year. Please go to novascotiatourismagency.ca for our detailed monthly reports.
Year-to-date, the province is up 4 per cent overall in room nights sold. A Tourism Strategy for Nova Scotia
• Leadership and collaboration • Evidence-based decision making • Higher-quality products and experiences • Improved access to Nova Scotia and throughout the province • Inspirational, strategic marketing
Our strategy is made up of five pillars for growth.
Leadership and collaboration Evidence-based decision making Higher-quality products and experiences Improved access to and throughout Nova Scotia AND Inspirational, strategic marketing
As I mentioned, to move the strategy forward, the NSTA is focused on working to attract more first-time visitors from high-yield markets, who will stay longer and spend more.
Industry’s job is to focus on repeat visitors. To bring those visitors back again and again. You can help by:
Closing the sale – pre-trip and during trip Developing relationships and exceed expectations Investing in high-quality product Delivering world-class experiences
No matter what size business or organization you have, to get visitors coming back for more, you need to identify what they are looking for and give it to them.
I’m going to outline what we’re doing to move the strategy forward in each of the five pillars. You’ll see some of the highlights from our work in 2014 and some of the exciting new projects we are working on for 2015.
As we go, I’m also going to share some of the great success stories we’re seeing across the province. These are just a few of the operators who are seeing the benefits of offering exceptional service and purchasable experiences.
I’ll start with Leadership and collaboration. Leadership and collaboration
In Leadership and collaboration, we are working to strengthen our partnerships, build pride among Nova Scotians, and take a sales-focused approach to serving our visitors. 2014
Leadership and collaboration 2014
Each year, we partner with regional tourism industry associations and destination marketing organizations across the province.
This fall, we conducted stakeholder sessions with industry in Southwest Nova to inform a new partnership approach that will help drive growth.
We spoke with 250 people at regional meetings and received over 300 online survey responses from throughout the region.
We received some clear messages from people in South West Nova:
Marketing is important Focus on the visitor Get more visitors to Nova Scotia Be efficient to maximize limited dollars NSTA should lead and collaborate with region Transparency and accountability
We hope to announce a new framework early in the New Year, so please stay tuned for more information. Importance of tourism industry to Nova Scotia economy
Part of our work as an industry is to communicate the value of tourism and build pride in the industry.
TIANS is implementing its ‘Change the Conversation’ initiative for industry members, and we also want Nova Scotians to be proud of what we have to offer visitors.
We recently participated in a survey to gauge Nova Scotians’ understanding and perception of our industry. Overall, Nova Scotians offer a favourable assessment of tourism. Sixty-two per cent feel it’s critically important….but there’s still room to improve.
Although most recognize that tourism is important to our economy, people aren’t aware of its economic value. Contribution of tourism industry to Nova Scotia economy
Here you can see that 48% of respondents answered “Don’t know” when asked what tourism contributes to the provincial economy.
Only 8 per cent think tourism is valued in the $2 billion range, and this offers a great communications opportunity. 2015
Leadership and collaboration 2015
In 2015, the NSTA will work to build excitement about Nova Scotia among our travel industry partners.
We’ll build on our relationships with travel operators and wholesalers, and expand the number of trade-ready products and experiences we have available for our customers to purchase. Canada Specialist Mega FAM
Leadership and collaboration 2015
As we recently announced in inTouch, Halifax has been selected to host a Canada Specialist Mega Fam next year, in partnership with the CTC.
About 200 Canada Specialist travel agents and tour operators from around the world will visit Nova Scotia from September 15 to 17.
The CTC’s goal is to create the largest single FAM tour in its history. This is an incredible opportunity to showcase Nova Scotia to this important group of travel trade professionals, who can introduce our province to the new visitors we are seeking.
We’ll be looking to you to help us welcome these key influencers, and show them the very best of our province. This is also one of the bigger meetings announced so far for the new convention centre – a great chance to start growing our revenues!
Along with the Mega Fam, we also expect to bring Go Media and Rendez-vous Canada to Nova Scotia in the next few years.
Rendez-vous is a marketplace for about 2500 travel influencers from around the world.
GoMedia is the CTC’s premier media marketplace, hosting about 150 top travel journalists from domestic and international markets.
These are three exciting, large-scale events that will raise our profile as a tourism destination with key influencers from around the world – amazing opportunities to spread the word about all the incredible things Nova Scotia has to offer visitors. Visitor Services
Leadership and collaboration 2015
When it comes to recommending the memorable products and experiences that will inspire people to enjoy the best of our beautiful province – and return again and again – our Visitor Services team is ready.
As part of our sales strategy, staff attended workshops with Nancy Arsenault from Tourism Café to make the shift from recommending services to recommending experiences. Training is focused on selling the right product or experience to the right visitor at the right time
We want to stay one step ahead of our visitors in assessing and delivering the essential information and services they need, in the ways they most want to receive them. Technology
Leadership and collaboration 2015
As the minister mentioned, this year we installed leading-edge technology and tools at the Yarmouth and Halifax waterfront VICs.
We’ll continue to install these tools at provincial VICs to support customer service, including hotspots, self-serve stations, screens, and touch tablets for visitors to plan their journey. Technology
Leadership and collaboration 2015
Staff will receive social media and technology training next year to help visitors share the best of Nova Scotia with friends and family through their own channels during their trip.
We’ll continue to make strategic decisions around visitor services to ensure we are providing the best service, while optimizing our investment. Burntcoat Head Home to the world’s highest tides
I mentioned earlier that I’d share some of the operator success stories from around the province throughout the presentation.
Burntcoat Head – home to the world’s highest tides on the Bay of Fundy – is a great example.
The Burntcoat Head Park Association showed great initiative this year, introducing new experiences, workshops and events. This resulted in the Park’s best season ever, including a 58% increase in visitation, a 45% increase in donations and a 214% increase in sales.
These increases are a direct result of new investment in high-quality products and experiences, strong support from our provincial VICs and the local community, and an informative website.
We were just in Burntcoat Head last week to announce the latest recipients of our Competitive Edge funding.
It’s great to see this iconic Bay of Fundy experience refreshing its product and appealing to new visitors. Evidence-based decision making
Next up is Evidence-based decision making.
In this pillar, we are working to optimize our investment and operational effectiveness by measuring our return on investment, evaluating the effectiveness of the tourism campaign, consistently mining insights, and monitoring first-time visitors to Nova Scotia. 2014
Evidence-based decision making 2014
In 2014, we have worked hard to rebuild our Research team. We now have staff in place to ensure we are meeting our objectives and collecting the data we need to measure our progress.
We’re excited about the team’s work to develop a new, NSTA-led online visitor panel. This panel, made up of about 20,000 previous and potential visitors, will help us make marketing decisions based on what appeals most to our customers.
At the beginning of the presentation, I was able to provide you with some information on the impressions of our visitors related to culinary. That came directly from our very first online panel study.
With our Research team now in place, we are also now providing statistics on a timely, consistent basis, with a goal of reporting within five weeks of the end of the reporting period.
You can see detailed visitation and key indicator results on our website, or receive monthly updates through our inTouch newsletter. Go to novascotiatourismagency.ca to sign up.
Your accommodation statistics are essential to these reports, and to our accommodations revenue estimates, so please remember to submit your results on a timely basis. 2015
Evidence-based decision making 2015
In 2015, we are refining the way we measure return on investment in our marketing efforts.
We are also committed to measuring our growth among first-time visitors. To date, we only have access to first-time results among air passengers – which are a relatively small proportion of overall visitors.
Those results suggest the percentage of first-time visitors arriving by air increased from 10 to 13 in 2014.
In 2015, we will commission our first Visitor Exit Survey in five years, which will help us gauge first-time results among total visitors to the province. Wolfville Magic Winery Bus
Tourism businesses across the province can attract more visitors and generate revenues by understanding their customers, and providing them with more ways to spend money. Wolfville Magic Winery Bus is doing a great job in giving their customers what they want.
This bus tour operator identified a demand for more accessible culinary and wine experiences.
Recently, they tapped into NSTA resources, including novascotia.com and our funding programs, and worked hard to exceed their guests’ expectations. They’ve also started measuring where their opportunities lie, the impact they are having, and making changes along the way.
Their results reflect their hard work - this season they experienced a 40% increase in ticket sales compared to last year – almost 5,000 happy customers served. Higher-quality products and experiences
Our next pillar is Higher-quality products and experiences.
We want to build on Nova Scotia’s tourism icons, improve the quality of products and experiences, and create innovative new products.
To deliver help on this, we will establish a globally competitive workforce, a strategic approach to major events, and leverage the Halifax convention centre as a key tourism asset. 2014
Higher-quality products and experiences 2014
We’ve been focusing our development resources on the enhancement of Nova Scotia’s tourism icons, which we know motivate first-time visitors.
It’s the NSTA’s job to bring more first-time visitors, and industry’s job to close the sale and inspire them to return.
We’ve been working with destinations and attractions across Nova Scotia, including the UNESCO World Heritage sites – Joggins Fossil Cliffs, Landscape Grand Pre, and Old Town Lunenburg – to improve the visitor experience.
These sites, along with our two UNESCO Biospheres, are unique in the world. There’s a huge opportunity for the tourism industry to leverage these sites to attract more first-time visitors.
This year, our staff worked with Joggins to bolster their experiences and promote them on novascotia.com.
One of their experiences is a two-hour guided beach walk called The Explorer’s Experience, which sells for $25 a person. They sold 258 tickets this year, and most of those sales came through our tourism website. Inspire your visitors
Higher-quality products and experiences 2014
We know that quality experiences like these have a great deal of appeal to visitors searching online for things to do. They want an opportunity to learn something by doing something with someone who lives here.
At the height of this season, we had 93 experiences available on novascotia.com, versus 13 from the previous year – and these businesses saw the difference it made to their bottom line.
Please go to novascotia.com and see what’s being offered. Work with our team to identify and develop an experience in your business that we can promote on novascotia.com. Bicycle Nova Scotia
We’re really proud of the great development work we’ve been supporting around the province. One of the highlights was our work with Bicycle Nova Scotia - launching a new map series and a website detailing five top cycling routes in Nova Scotia.
These tools showcase five areas around the province that provide a strong cluster of cycling opportunities. This the first time in 20 years that cyclists have had access to this kind of self-guided maps. The maps and GPS downloads are a great first step in ensuring route information is available to out-of-province cyclists, and we are already hearing rave reviews from visitors and local businesses. These trail and roads provide motivation for visitors and make it easier for them to enjoy great experiences and to visit your establishments.
As operators, we want you to think about how to provide visiting cyclists with quality services, like shuttling, or packages to purchase.
We’ll continue to partner with Bicycle Nova Scotia to increase Nova Scotia’s competitiveness as a cycling tourism destination, and attract more of these high-value visitors. 2015
Higher-quality products and experiences 2015
We want to make sure our iconic tourism assets are accessible, offer value and create great memories for people to share. Next year, we will launch the new Rum Runners trail, offering outdoor enthusiasts an opportunity to experience our charming coastal heritage between Halifax and Lunenburg - by bike!
By uniting 7 trails under one brand, we’ve been working with our partners to create a destination trail with the ability to motivate travel to the province.
This 109 km trail offers another great opportunity for businesses, AND a new way for visitors to experience our iconic destinations.
Please stay tuned to inTouch for more information on the official launch of the Rum Rummers trail early next year. Good Cheer Trail
Higher-quality products and experiences 2015
When it comes to culinary, we have a number of exciting things in the works. In 2015, we will partner with Taste of Nova Scotia to launch the Good Cheer Trail, celebrating our rich Nova Scotia heritage, and the best of our wine, craft breweries and artisan distilleries.
This road trip will be unique in Canada – offering something truly special for our visitors to enjoy. The opportunities for local business will be significant.
Next year, we’ll also be focused on culinary as part of our InnovatioNS Days series. In 2015, instead of one big conference, we’ll be bringing a number of sessions to you around the province.
We’re still finalizing the details, but some of the content will include sessions with Bonavista Institute and the Nova Scotia Community College on creating exciting things to do that will help your customers part with their dollars.
You can get started by attending the NSTA’s culinary session tomorrow morning, Capitalize on Culinary Experiences!
We’ve already increased from 13 to 93 experiences on novascotia.com, and we want yours to be next. It can open up a new market for you, providing you with a great platform to increase awareness, generate sales, and promote your business to potential visitors from all over the world. Major events
Higher-quality products and experiences 2015
We know major events drive visitation, and – as the Minister mentioned – next year we will be hosting some exciting events in Nova Scotia….the World Men’s Curling Championships in March and Country Music Week in September.
We are focused on bringing these national and international events to Nova Scotia, and we need you - local businesses and communities – to be open and ready to do business so these visitors will stay longer and spend more money.
The Web.com GOLFest will also be back in June.
There is no question this is an exciting time for Nova Scotia ....with some of our newest golf courses capturing international media attention, achieving top rankings, and being added to the bucket lists of golfers around the world.
With Cabot Cliffs now set to open in 2015, the NSTA is supporting the development of a golf marketing strategy in partnership with Golf Nova Scotia, to ensure we capitalize on this growing opportunity. Convention centre
Higher-quality products and experiences 2015
We’re looking forward to hosting major events at the Halifax convention centre in the next few years, and offering visitors all kinds of great packages and opportunities to explore the province pre and post- convention.
You can learn more about pre- and post in one of the sessions being held tomorrow morning. Join Scott Ferguson, Darlene Grant Fiander, Pat Lyall, and me to learn how to take advantage of these opportunities. Improved access to Nova Scotia and throughout the province
Now we come to Improved Access to Nova Scotia.
We want to expand access to the province through all modes of transportation. 2014
Improved access to Nova Scotia and throughout the province 2014
As we heard from Minister Samson earlier, the number of passengers on the Portland to Yarmouth ferry weren’t as high as expected in its first season, but it did contribute to some good tourism results.
Three-quarters of passenger vehicles arriving in Yarmouth were from the U.S, and the number of New England visitors to Nova Scotia grew by 27 per cent during the peak season.
Room nights sold in Yarmouth and the South Shore were up this summer. Air
Improved access to Nova Scotia and throughout the province 2014
Air access is essential to our strategy and to creating real growth.
In 2014, we maintained our vital air links to international markets through airlines such as Icelandair, Condor and Air Canada.
While we have seen increases in overall air visits, and some frequency growth, we know we still have a lot of work to do to grow access.
The introduction of the inaugural Europe Airpost flight at Halifax Stanfield International Airport was a highlight– providing weekly summer service to Halifax from Paris and Glasgow. These seasonal international flights provide a great opportunity for growth during our peak tourism season.
We will continue to work with our partners to improve capacity and bring more of these high-yield visitors to the province. Cruise
Improved access to Nova Scotia and throughout the province 2014
Our cruise results weren’t as positive as we hoped this year at both the Halifax and Sydney Ports due to poor weather and technical issues on some of the cruise lines.
However, more than 100 cruise vessels and 220,000 passengers visited Nova Scotia this year.
Some of our smaller ports were also busy with increased cruise traffic.
I love cruise, but I love it more when those visitors come back for a week at a time.
Through our Return to Nova Scotia Program, we will be communicating to cruise passengers, encouraging them to return for an exciting land-based vacation. 2015
Improved access to Nova Scotia and throughout the province 2015
In 2015, we’re thrilled that Westjet has announced Glasgow as its newest European destination, providing daily non-stop seasonal flights to Halifax from May to October. This is the first time Nova Scotia has had daily service from Glasgow.
As I mentioned, air is essential to our strategy of bringing new visitors, and we will focus on increasing air capacity in the coming months and years. NovaShores Adventures
Advocate Boat Tours
Another of this year's success stories is a great example of succession planning and entrepreneurship.
Nova Shore Adventures has been offering high-quality paddling tours for years.
By focusing on great products in a world-class environment and diversifying their offering, they’ve turned one business into two.
Planning for change as they get a bit older, the original owners groomed their experiences guide to take over Nova Shores Adventures and created Advocate Boat Tours.
The new owners of Nova Shores – an enterprising couple originally from Europe – run safaris in Madagascar in the winter and choose to spend their summers in Advocate Harbour for the amazing coastal sea kayaking.
Both companies have worked hard to develop their experiences and packages, making them available on novascotia.com, and creating successful partnerships with Wild Caraway, Driftwood and others.
With great products and a helpful website, Nova Shores increased sales by 21 percent over last year, doubled capacity and hired more staff. Inspirational, strategic marketing
That leads us to our last pillar, Inspirational, strategic marketing.
We want to establish a compelling brand and build an effective campaign, lead the industry in technology, invest in key target markets and increase the efficiency of our marketing partnership programs. 2014
Inspirational, strategic marketing 2014
Our multi-year brand campaign, Take yourself there, positions Nova Scotia as the 'spirit of the perfect road trip', and showcases iconic destinations, including the Cabot Trail, the Bay of Fundy, Peggy’s Cove, Halifax, Lunenburg, and the Annapolis Valley.
This year, the campaign had an expanded national presence, with continued focus on the high-yield Ontario and Quebec markets, and a new investment in the Northeastern US.
The integrated, multi-media campaign included TV, print, digital, out-of-home, travel shows, events, and media relations. Northeastern US
Inspirational, strategic marketing 2014
Along with the exciting events at Fanueil Hall and Fenway Park, which you saw in the video earlier, the Northeastern US campaign kicked-off early in March, reaching thousands of potential visitors in the greater Boston area through paid media, and encouraging them to visit through all modes of transportation. National
Inspirational, strategic marketing 2014
The national campaign ran from March to May, featuring national TV ads, an exciting Globe and Mail editorial series, and a GO Transit campaign in the Greater Toronto Area.
We also launched our amazing new Places in Between road movies – which have received 123,000 views on YouTube. This digital film series features Nova Scotia road trips from each region and music from seven local musicians. You can check them out on novascotia.com. Overseas
Inspirational, strategic marketing 2014
We also launched our brand in the UK and Germany.
Highlights included a London underground billboard campaign, featuring Halifax and Cape Breton in ten of London's busiest Tube stations and exposing our brand to about 28 million commuters. Regional campaign
Inspirational, strategic marketing 2014
In 2013, we reduced our spend in the Atlantic region and focused our budget on higher-yield markets.
This has meant some good results from outside the region, without causing a significant change in our local results.
We know that 94 per cent of Maritimers have already been to Nova Scotia, and we are focused on higher-spending, first-time visitors.
However, we still had a good presence in the region, launching a marketing campaign with C100 and CTV to partner with communities and industry across the province, and promote surprises in great destinations throughout Nova Scotia. Two-thirds of Canadians book online
Digital
Inspirational, strategic marketing 2014
PhoCusWright, a travel market research organization, recently conducted a large study that showed the number of Canadian travelers who purchase most or all of their travel online increased from 25 per cent in 2010 to 50 per cent in 2014. That’s huge.
Online accommodation bookings are the fastest growing segment of the online travel market.
In order for your business to survive, your website must provide travelers with all the information they need, and allow them to complete their entire purchase transaction online.
We are always working to enhance novascotia.com and send more visitors to operator sites, and we want you to be ready. Overall bookings on novascotia.com are up 35 per cent this year. Operator listings
Inspirational, strategic marketing 2014
In 2014, we made great progress in our online and digital marketing efforts, beginning with the launch of a new novascotia.com.
The new website features enhanced operator listings, including this one from White Point, which are more retail-oriented than ever before, focusing on sales and packages to entice the visitor.
Novascotia.com has received more than 2.5 million visits so far this year, an increase of 24 per cent compared to the same period in 2013.
More importantly, there were more than 200,000 click-thrus to operator websites in that same period – an increase of 91 per cent.
With improved navigation, our visitors are easily finding the content they are looking for…
As an example, page views to the Cape Breton regional page were up 47 percent. The Cape Breton golf page saw an increase of 53 percent, and the Fortress Louisbourg listing was up 64 percent. novascotia.com
Inspirational, strategic marketing 2014
We’re thrilled that our Top 25 Attractions page is the most popular page on novascotia.com. It highlights our iconic travel motivators from around the province.
This offers you a great opportunity to create packages related to our Top 25. We’ve made it easy – just upload your package through our new Partner Portal, available on the site.
We also introduced booking.com on our site earlier this year, and 50 per cent of operators on novascotia.com are using it.
The website is our main call to action, and we’ll continue to enhance the site and guide visitors to operator listings and websites.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to be ready online, and for you to work with our team to ensure your listing on novascotia.com is optimized for content that will engage the visitor. Media relations
Inspirational, strategic marketing 2014
In media relations, one of our most exciting initiatives in 2014 was the launch of the JoyRide Nova Scotia Media Road Trip. Media relations
Inspirational, strategic marketing 2014
To continue on the success of our Joy Ride media promotion, we will host a smaller, streamlined group of media to highlight Nova Scotia as a culinary destination in 2015.
We’ll be looking to you to work with us to bring more of these important media to the province. Peak season results Total web visits: New England +178% Ontario +16% Quebec +32% BC & Alberta +19%
Visitation +4% in key markets
Inspirational, strategic marketing 2014
We know that the Take yourself campaign is working, and the proof is in the results.
Here are some of the highlights from the peak season from June to September.
As you can see, web visits from our key markets are up significantly.
Together, visits from the Northeastern US and our three Canadian markets are up 4 percent during the peak season.
This is great to see, but we are even more interested in seeing the increases in our accommodations and overall tourism revenues. 2015
Inspirational, strategic marketing 2015
In 2015, we will maintain our presence in Ontario, Quebec, and in the national market. We also hope, pending budget approval, to be back in the Northeastern US.
As part of our focus on food and wine in 2015, we will leverage culinary through our marketing plans next year, continuing to focus on our iconic experiences.
It’s essential that we establish the Nova Scotia brand with our target audiences consistently….over time. This is what will make the critical shift – making Nova Scotia a natural choice as a vacation destination in the minds of visitors from these markets.
This year, we will be investing every possible dollar in paid media. Our approach also includes expanding the length of the campaign.
We’ll also include more retail focus to the campaign – promoting packages and making it easy for visitors to plan and purchase their vacation.
We’ll continually evaluate the success of the campaign, and make strategic changes as we go.
That’s particularly important when it comes to digital. In this season’s campaign, we constantly monitored progress and made changes as we went, to improve our focus and garner results.
We also have a great foundation in social media and, in 2015, we’ll continue to build our engagement and send more referrals to novascotia.com.
Next year, we’ll explore new content marketing opportunities, such as Buzzfeed, to insert Nova Scotia content into popular social media sites. Online
Inspirational, strategic marketing 2015
As I mentioned, we’ll continue to make upgrades to novascotia.com, and our listings. We’ll be focused on promoting intriguing experiences across the province, and highlighting our culinary edge – this page gives you a sense of how it will look on the site.
We’ll be working with operators one-on-one to maximize your online presence and encouraging visitors to purchase what you have to offer. Please reach out to our team on how we can work together. You’ll see us out on the road around the province this year.
We have lots of exciting things underway for digital and online next year. Please stay tuned to inTouch for more information on how you can participate. Planning for the future
Inspirational, strategic marketing 2015
We’re only in the second year of our marketing Take yourself there program. We were consistent this year and we saw success.
We now have the new website – just launched this year – and a marketing campaign that is generating growth from central and western Canada, and the northeastern US.
We need to continue to bring home our messages in our key markets to attract more first-time visitors to Nova Scotia.
You’ll hear more details of our plan for 2015 in the New Year. Shelburne Harbour Boat Tours
Unfortunately, I only have time for one more success story. There are so many others I’d like to share.
This year, Shelburne Harbour Boat Tours worked with our team to develop some great new packages, including lobster dinner onboard a boat and a kitchen party cruise.
We pushed out these new offerings through the NSTA’s consumer newsletter – to thousands of potential visitors.
Their hard work has generated some great results, including significant increases from Alberta and Ontario and a 30 per cent boost in ticket sales.
Right now, there are 10 Shelburne experiences on novascotia.com, and 9 of them are from Shelburne Harbour Boat Tours.
These experiences are having great success on novascotia.com. Please, give us more. Next steps
Today, my hope was to give you a taste of what we’ve been doing in 2014, what’s coming up for 2015, and to share some of the successes we’ve seen from operators across Nova Scotia.
There are so many other initiatives underway to support the work I have been presenting today – amazing festivals and events happening around the province, great partnerships, innovative products and experiences being developed.
I can’t emphasize enough that you are our key partners in building our industry and reaching the goal of $4 billion revenues over the next 10 years. Remember, those are your revenues we’re talking about!
There are so many ways we can work together. The NSTA is making key decisions and choices that will bring more first-time visitors to the province.
And we need you to create and invest in those products and experiences that will keep bringing visitors back – inspiring them to spend more dollars and stay longer.
We want tourism – the NSTA and industry together – to be a leader in making the goals of the Ivany Report a reality.
As Ben said, we’ve been working on a strategy with the board, and this strategy will need to align with the changing needs of the consumer in 2015, 16, 17 and beyond.
We feel we have some of those pieces in places with the digital strategy and a strong marketing program, but more change is required.
We can’t get to new markets with the budget we have today. We need to think about how to reallocate our resources and focus on new access points to get new visitors to come here.
The NSTA will bring those new visitors here. We need you to bring them back.
We can only create great change by working together.
Please reach out to our team, read inTouch, and tell us your own success stories, so we can share them through everything we do.
Thank you Q & A