With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/290301
April 2014 BCBusiness 23 bCbUSinESS.CA Tourism's New Leadership t o U r i s M Three B.C.-based tourism organizations have seen recent leadership shakeups. Where do these new CEOs see the industry headed? by Lindsey Peacock Paul Nursey CeO, Tourism Victoria I see a new era of collabora- tion with both Marsha and Greg taking their respective roles along with myself. This will drive greater partnership and more efficiency for the tourism industry. Marsha Walden President and CeO, Destination BC Corp. Destination BC is full of smart, enthusiastic and ex- perienced people. My goal is to create strategic clarity for them—to focus our energies, and those of the industry, on the levers that drive tourism revenue growth. What changes do you hope to bring to your new position? What is your vision for your organization's brand? What are the significant trends you're seeing in local tourism? Unless presented with compelling evidence, I don't plan to change what's already working. Because the current brand continues to perform, I would rather invest resources into sales and marketing. Now is a once-in-a-genera- tion window where legacy aviation fleets are being replaced. I would like to work with partners and see what we can accomplish for Greater Victoria and B.C. in this context. Greg Klassen interim president and CeO, Canadian Tourism Commission I will continue to focus on the values that are important to our industry. Our col- laboration with our tourism industry remains a priority to ensure that Canada's powerful tourism brand leads internationally. Our "Canada. Keep Explor- ing" brand gained momen- tum from the 2010 Olympic Games. However, the inter- national tourism market- place is incredibly competi- tive with all these amazing destinations, and we still need to get our brand out there more to consumers. Canada is the most recom- mended destination in the world; we aim to capture that enthusiasm on social networks, encouraging travellers to share their stories from their experi- ences that will ultimately help us market our great country. ■ There has been a dramatic shift in how consumers make their travel planning decisions. More and more, travellers are seeking new experiences—soft adventure, cultural exploration, wildlife encounters. B.C. is excep- tionally well positioned to deliver these. Over the past six months, our team has conducted brand-positioning research in our major markets. These insights will help us deter- mine what steps to take to make B.C. resonate more powerfully with travel consumers. ovErniGht visitors to b.C., 2013* *12 MOnTHS THrOUGH nOVEMbEr 2013 U.S. Asia Europe Other 4,640,154 706,247 449,061 326,919 SOUrCE: bC Stats Capilano Audi.indd 1 14-03-05 1:58 PM p16-23-Frontlines_april.indd 23 2014-03-07 1:20 PM