Tourism Winnipeg

2017 Destination Marketing Plan & Partnership Opportunities | Tourism Winnipeg 19 VISITOR SERVICES Effective visitor servicing is essential to help optimize sales and deliver a favourable visitor experience. Tourism Winnipeg enhances the experience of visitors to Winnipeg by assisting and advising them about the breadth of activities available, thereby encouraging them to spend more and stay longer in the city. Target Audience Primary Leisure visitors/frontline staff of Winnipeg hotels and attractions Secondary Citywide convention delegates and event attendees TACTICS Travel Counseling Tourism Winnipeg provides exceptional travel counseling for traditional and online visitor inquiries through Twitter, Facebook, TripAdvisor and other travel-related social media sites. Winnipeg video segments are posted on YouTube while images are shared on FlickR, Instagram and Pinterest for optimal exposure and conversation. Publication Distribution Tourism Winnipeg distributes Visitor Guides, Events Guides, Taste magazines, Winnipeg maps, The Loop and Tour brochures to stakeholders on an on-going basis to ensure visitors have optimal access to visitor information. Online Hotel Reservation System – Priceline Partner Network Tourism Winnipeg will continue to offer an online hotel reservation system at no cost to hotel partners. Hotels are listed on the Priceline widget on tourismwinnipeg.com for incremental business and to increase brand awareness. Mobile Visitor Services Tourism Winnipeg will provide visitor information booths for citywide conventions and special events to encourage visitors to see and do more while in Winnipeg. Tourism Winnipeg will also promote leisure travel to Winnipeg in the U.S. market at various events including the Grand Cities Arts Fest in Grand Forks and at a Fargo/Moorhead Red Hawks baseball game. Tourism Winnipeg also conducts visitor surveys as opportunities arise. Frontline Visitor Information Presentations Tourism Winnipeg delivers complimentary frontline training sessions on what to see and do in Winnipeg. The Visitor Information Presentation is delivered on-site and provides information on attractions, events and information on what visitors are interested in. Frontline Industry Familiarization Tours - Destination Training Tourism Winnipeg will provide destination training for frontline staff through familiarization tours of various Winnipeg tourism establishments in order to increase product knowledge. First-hand experience of Winnipeg's attractions and events provides frontline staff with experiences so that they can speak with authenticity and expertise and better describe tourism activities. INDUSTRY MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS Weekly "What's Happening in Winnipeg" emails will be distributed to attractions and hotels to ensure frontline staff can provide visitors with the most up-to-date and accurate information on what is happening in Winnipeg. Tourism Winnipeg's visitor publications also serve as quick and easy reference tools for frontline staff and visitors alike. Continued support and engagement on social media also helps service visitor inquiries in the digital space. Trends Visitor Services Trends › Many cities are closing their doors on storefront visitor bureaus and taking their message on the road by outfitting trucks or vans with iPads, map murals and music to draw visitors to this new generation of visitor centres › Smartphones are now the most watched medium providing content information › Visitors are looking for more in-depth knowledge, insights and unique experiences that are available to them - ways to experience the essence of the destination › This means that frontline staff will require more training - not only on in-depth product knowledge (for the local area, the region and the province as a whole), but also on how to respond to the customer and to meet their expectations and demands Source: www.gov.ns.ca/econ/tourism/docs/Visitor_Information.pdf

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