Issue link: http://tourismwpg.uberflip.com/i/134953
In 2012, Tourism Winnipeg launched the "Use Your Influence" program to engage Winnipeg's business community to bring their conventions and meetings to Winnipeg. Tourism Winnipeg also increased corporate business travel through sales activities. Tourism Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Convention Centre also aligned their efforts to develop a joint sales meeting program to attract city-wide conventions. » Sports and Special Events Tourism Winnipeg will develop a sports and special events alliance with key stakeholders to position Winnipeg as a competitive destination and will identify further opportunities to host national and international events. Tourism Winnipeg will collaborate with Sport Manitoba and National Sport Organization executive directors, and will attend local sports events and annual general meetings in order to encourage organizations and university athletic departments to bring regional and national competitions to Winnipeg. In 2011, Tourism Winnipeg enhanced its direct sales platform and lead-generating activities to attract a high volume of sports and special events. That activity included the development of a target list of major events that could be hosted in Winnipeg. Tourism Winnipeg also organized a sports forum at Sport Manitoba to increase the number of national and international sports events held in Winnipeg. In 2012, Tourism Winnipeg continued to attend local sports events and annual general meetings, and invested in activities to attract sports and special events to Winnipeg. » Travel Trade Tourism Winnipeg will collaborate with stakeholders to promote Winnipeg as a packaged tour destination to the travel trade by attending key trade shows and marketplaces. Tourism Winnipeg will continue to lead Winnipeg Tour Connection, a marketing consortium partnership in order to expand the number of group and packaged tours of Winnipeg, and to develop cooperative marketing promotions with tour operators, travel agents and affinity clubs, resulting in increased tourism to Winnipeg. Tourism Winnipeg will develop strategies to increase the length of stay of individuals and groups that use Winnipeg as a gateway to Churchill, for hunting and fishing outdoor adventures and as a VIA Rail stopover. Tourism Winnipeg will elevate group tour servicing by providing tour escort notes, sample itineraries, pre-tour Winnipeg marketing materials to increase number of bookings, and in some cases, cooperative partnerships to promote Winnipeg as a packaged tour destination. the number of experiential tour products, and partnering with interested stakeholders to offer tourism experiences for VIA Rail passengers. In 2012, Tourism Winnipeg expanded the Winnipeg Tour Connection consortium activities, elevated group tour servicing by developing welcome kits for tour groups, increased Winnipeg overnight stays for groups using Winnipeg as a gateway to Churchill, and increased travel to Winnipeg arranged by travel agents through sales activities. » Visitor Servicing Tourism Winnipeg will develop a visitor services platform designed to enhance visitor experiences by increasing distribution of visitor guides, events guides and itineraries, and maps; providing the most current tourism information for frontline staff; and managing a mobile information centre at special events. In 2011, Tourism Winnipeg developed a visitor services platform that enhanced distribution of tourism literature to stakeholders and educational sessions for frontline staff of hotels, attractions and festivals to enhance visitor experiences. Tourism Winnipeg also increased personal and online-travel counselling by installing a live chat application and invested in an online accommodation reservation system that serves as a gateway to hotel stakeholder's websites for bookings. In 2012, Tourism Winnipeg developed a mobile visitor information centre for city-wide conventions, festivals and major events held in Winnipeg to encourage visitors and citizens alike to explore the city. INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS Tourism Winnipeg will identify competitive advantages and unique selling propositions, creating compelling visitor experience benefits for all target markets. The use of high impact product descriptions and promotional imagery to position experiences in the visitor's mind will be forefront in elevating tourism attraction to Winnipeg. » Public Relations Tourism Winnipeg will develop a public relations strategy to position the city of Winnipeg as a desirable, four-season destination, and to demonstrate the value of tourism as an economic driver. Tourism Winnipeg will also establish close relationships with stakeholders so that it can collect and release the most current information on what is going on in the city. In 2011, Tourism Winnipeg developed a tourism news email distributed to industry Monday to Friday, as well as a monthly leisure e-newsletter promoting current events and tourism activities. In 2011, Tourism Winnipeg enhanced its direct sales platform and lead-generating activities to increase group and packaged travel to Winnipeg. Tourism Winnipeg continued to lead the Winnipeg Tour Connection. Activities included workshops to expand In 2012, Tourism Winnipeg incorporated contesting into its leisure e-newsletters, and continued to distribute tourism news, wrote press stories on new attractions and activities, and hosted a Tourism Week press conference to launch PegCityGrub.com. 42 A Master Tourism Plan for Winnipeg | 2011-2015 | 2013 UPDATE