Five-year tourism plan targets family visits, niche markets

TOURISM Winnipeg introduced an ambitious new five-year master tourism strategy Thursday but it will be looking for a significant financial boost from the city to pull it off.

The tourism promotion division of Economic Development Winnipeg held a splashy afternoon reception for its industry partners, featuring a detailed multi-pronged approach that shows Winnipeg as a highly desirable destination.

Marina James, the CEO of the city's economic development agency, said it has already met with city officials seeking $1 million on top of its $3-million annual budget.

James said construction of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights will be a "tipping point" for the city, but other than that the promotion team doesn't have much new to work with.

Chantal Sturk-Nadeau, senior vice-president of Tourism Winnipeg, said changes in tourism visitation trends create new opportunities for the city to market itself.

"How people buy travel is different now. It happens through experience," she said. "The traditional selling style where you say, 'Here's the Mint, here's the museum, here's the hotel,' those days are long gone. Travellers are no longer booking trips to see something stagnant, they want to experience."

She said people are looking for niche experiences -- like voluntourism or eco-tourism or aboriginal tourism.

She also said Tourism Winnipeg is going to target more of its efforts on the local tourism market.

Its research shows that 37 per cent of the visitors to Winnipeg come here to see friends and family.

"You don't see our own tourism promoted in our own city," she said. "We are going to shift this to the local market. If 37 per cent are visiting friends and relatives how do we get that up to 55 per cent?"

The new plan also includes a heavy dose of new-media products including an array of social-media links that create opportunities for co-operation with tourism-industry partners.

The plan imagines development of a number of potential tourism niche products including:

-- entertainment/gaming sector;

-- college/university town;

-- lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender

-- responsible tourism/ eco-tourism;

-- voluntourism; and

-- weather seasonality.


(2011-1-21/winnipegfreepress)