It is shaping up to be a strong year for U.S. visitation to Canada, and subsequently to Calgary. With the favorourable dollar, sesquicentennial celebrations and dedicated marketing efforts, Canada is looking to build on nearly 10 per cent growth from U.S. travellers last year, with an expected increase of a further 7.8 per cent in 2017. With approximately 30.9 million Americans considering visiting Canada in the next two years, the opportunity to market this audience is unprecedented.
The Conference Board of Canada is expecting overnight travel to Calgary to grow by 2.5 per cent in 2017, and American travellers are an important market for our destination.
To drive visitation from the U.S., Tourism Calgary is working closely with its partners at Destination Canada and Travel Alberta to promote our country, region and city to U.S. travellers, while creating urgency to visit. The re-targeting campaign ensures highly-qualified potential visitors are exposed to Calgary-specific content, curated by advocates including travel media, explorers and locals.
Targeted first at markets with direct access to Canada, including Seattle, Houston, Dallas, Boston, New York, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, potential travellers expressing interest in Canadian tourism content then receive information about Alberta. If they engage with that content, Calgary-specific information is shared.
The primary channel for these efforts is a long-haul targeted microsite, found at http://www.visitclagry.com/basecamp-calgary. The microsite is refreshed seasonally, ensuring relevant content for vacation planning is always available. The site features a library rich with content crafted specifically for U.S. audiences, based on research insights gained from other efforts in 2016.
These research insights indicate U. S. travellers are interested In a combination of urban and adventure experiences. To respond to this, many of Tourisms Calgary’s marketing efforts showcase “two worlds, one day” options for exploring the Rocky Mountains and Calgary’s culture all in the same day. Similarly, content also highlights the opportunities for experiencing the Badlands and the city all in one day.
The first six months of the campaign yielded over 17 million impressions and 20,000 incremental individual visit to Tourism Calgary’s microsite from long-haul U.S. travellers, indicating heavy interest from this target market. As the U.S. campaign expands, these numbers are expected to grow, especially as more content is created based specifically on the behaviours and interests of these travellers.
To learn more about Tourism Calgary, and all there is to experience in our city, see visitcalgary.com.
Answer:
I have read one of the articles published by you targeted towards attracting American tourists to Calgary. The article advertises the Canadian Rockies and the foothills country sides of Calgary simultaneously. The marketing strategy is wonderfully crafted to attract the adventure loving people towards the Canadian Rockies and the Stampede rodeo. However, I believe that Calgary goes beyond trekking the Rockies and cattle sports at the Stampede.
The advertisement campaign to promote Calgary should reflect more aspects of the place which will enhance the appeal of the promotional attempt. Calgary is famous for art galleries, cultural events and places like historical parks and zoos, restaurants and bars and a whole lot of attractions. The tourists can relish organic delicacies and drinks at the bars and local farms.
The historic structures, markets, malls and meadows which have reflected the richness of the Calgary add to the allure of the place. There are many young American tourists who love visiting such places with their families and friends. The advertisement should include these attractions as well so that tourists of varying tastes can get to know about the place and its attractions. An addition of information regarding best time to visits, hotels, transport, foreign exchange and other important facilities will give the prospective Calgary visitors a deeper insight into the place. This transparency will attract more American tourists and thus increase the income of the tourism industry.
I would highly oblige if my suggestions are considered and incorporated in the future advertisements of Calgary Tourism.
Bibliography:
Chon, K. S., & Weber, K. (2014). Convention tourism: International research and industry perspectives. Routledge.
Visit Calgary. (2017). visitcalgary.com. Retrieved 25 March 2017, from https://www.visitcalgary.com/search/node/stampede
