Tourism Talk April 2011

Tourism Talk – April 2011

APRIL 2011

HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS ISSUE Fredericton’s Tourism Industry Breaks $220 Million

Fredericton Convention Centre Ready for Public Tours

edVentures Ready to Take On-line Registrations

Harvest to Launch its 2011 Festival Line-Up

The Countdown is on! Congress 2011 is Less than 2 Months Away!

Ceremonial Guard Summer Employment Opportunities

Digital Media Update: Meet us in the “Town Square”

New Faces/New Places

Meetings & Conventions Update: Selling to the Ottawa & Toronto Market

What’s Happening

Travel Trade Update Literature Delivery Consumer Market Update

For the first time, Fredericton’s tourism industry put more than $220 million into the local economy in 2010. Fredericton Tourism reported that the tourism sector contributed an all-time high of $220.6 million to the economy last year, up from $216.5 million in 2009, an increase of 1.9 per cent. The industry performance report was conducted by McKellar, Cunningham and Associates for Fredericton Tourism. “It’s a modest increase and demonstrates steady growth in the tourism sector,” said David Seabrook, manager of Fredericton Tourism. McKellar, Cunningham and Associates described the City’s performance as “very, very solid.” “Fredericton’s tourism industry didn’t suffer as much as others in the recession, and we didn’t see a major post-recession bounce, but growth is growth and we’re pleased to see it,” added Seabrook. For the second year in a row, Fredericton’s roofed accommodations occupancy rate at 59.2% ranked first among the 25 tourism regions east of Montreal.

FREDERICTON’S TOURISM INDUSTRY BREAKS

$220 MILLION


The total number of visitors to the city was estimated at 1,289,000, up 1.3 per cent from 2009. Visitation from the United States and other international destinations increased a significantly 8.8%. Room sales to international visitors increased 10.3%. Overnight visits from New Brunswick residents increased 5.5%. Room sales to New Brunswickers were up 3.6 per cent. Accommodations accounted for 17% of tourism expenditures, gas & oil purchases were worth 21%, restaurants 17% and shopping for worth 26%. Visitors spent $4.2 million on cultural expenditures. The one area of concern was Canadian visitation from non-New Brunswickers which saw a decline of 5.6%. “Clearly we need to do more to attract getaway vacation visitation, particularly from the other Maritime provinces. That’s an area of concern for us,” said Seabrook. “The regional vacation market has become increasingly competitive in recent years. It’s something we’re going to take a hard look at.” “I think we can do a better job at motivating the regional market with our quality festival product, niche products like edVentures learning vacations and building our meetings and conventions market,” he said. The opening of the new Fredericton Convention Centre provides a unique opportunity to grow the tourism sector over the next several years, Seabrook added.

edVentures Fredericton, now in its fourth year, is Atlantic Canada’s largest learning vacation program in craft and culture. This year, we are excited to announce that we are now accepting registrations and payment on-line

From July 4 to August 14, workshops will be available in categories such as: Drawing, Painting and Mixed Media * Exploring Creativity * Family * Fashion & Sewing * Heritage Offerings * Jewellery & Metalwork * Mind, Body & Spirit * Photography & Digital Media * Pottery *Textiles* Youth & Children. Visit our website www.edventures.ca or become a fan of edVentures on facebook! Sign up by May 31 for a 15% early bird discount. Grab some friends and choose your experience!

EdVENTURES READY TO TAKE

ON-LINE REGISTRATIONS


More than 6,000 people are coming to the capital region from May 28 to June 4 – get ready! The City of Fredericton will be the site for the 80th Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. The University of New Brunswick and St. Thomas University will co-host this prestigious event - the largest in the city’s history.

Fredericton Tourism is informing you of this now so you can prepare for the potential increase in business. The majority of people are coming from outside of New Brunswick, providing restaurants, taxis, hotels, retailers and businesses a prime opportunity to capitalize on new customers.

It’s expected economic spinoffs will be around $6 million. This event will also generate national and international media exposure for the city.

Mark the date in your calendar, inform your staff and get ready to show off our Maritime Hospitality. For more information, visit http://congress2011.ca.

With over 500 fans joining our “Town Square Social Hub” in the first 72 hours of its launch, our social media hub, particularly facebook, is well on its way to being a vital part of the tourism “buzz” both for ourcommunity and the Tourism Industry.

Meet in our virtual “Town Square” become a fan and have a chance to win some very nice prizes, including passes to all our major festivals! We have also rolled out our new website, a new look featuring a new calendar of events! www.tourismfredericton.ca

Become a fan- www.facebook.com/FrederictonTourism Follow us- twitter.com/FredTourism Watch our videos- www.youtube.com/FrederictonTourism Check our photos- www.flickr.com/FrederictonTourism

Rendez-Vous Fredericton willhit the streets in both Ottawa and Toronto in April. Wendy Bradley and four RVF partners (Erin Blanchard, Fredericton Convention Centre; Celine Diotte, Crowne Plaza; Kathryn Sprott, Delta; and Beth Wallace, UNB) will meet several

Meetings & Conventions Update:

SELLING TO THE OTTAWA & TORONTO MARKET

THE COUNTDOWN IS ON!

CONGRESS 2011 LESS THAN 2 MONTHS AWAY!

Digital Media Update:

MEET US IN THE “TOWN SQUARE!”


meeting planners over 5 days during individual sales calls. They will also host a reception in Ottawa and a table at the National Meetings Industry Day luncheon in Toronto. The goal of this initiative is to pique the interest of national meeting planners and entice them to come to Fredericton on a familiarization tour. Once a planner experiences our city, we are that much closer to winning the business.

Meeting and Event Assistance

For more information on bringing your meeting or event home to Fredericton, contact Wendy Bradley at [email protected] or 460-2852 For assistance with servicing an event that is coming to Fredericton, contact Debbie Perry at [email protected] or 460-2087.

Reminder to update your info in 2011-12 Group Tour Planner

If your hotel, attraction, group tour and/or restaurant does business with tour groups, make sure your free info listed in our on-line Group Tour Planner is up to date. The Planner is on our website. You can email Mary Ellen Hudson with updated information and photos to reflect 2011-12 rates.

Mary Ellen Hudson on Team Canada Board of Directors 2011-12

Mary Ellen Hudson has entered into her second year on the Board of Directors for Team Canada, a tourism association made up of member companies from across Canada ( hotels, attractions, restaurants, transportation companies, tour operators, DMO’s) that promotes its members to North American travel trade . She and her co-director will chair the marketplace interaction and events committee.

Fredericton very popular at Spring Consumer Shows! Patricia Donnelly and Raelene Arsenault attended the AAA Travel Show in Foxboro, MA from March 3-6, along with Tourism & Parks, Saint John and Moncton. Over 15,000 AAA members visited the show. Mary Ellen Hudson, working with Tourism & Parks and local industry created a AAA Drive Vacation package that is now available for sale in AAA offices throughout New England. Debbie Perry attended the Montreal RV & Caravan Show. This was a very busy show with a number of people looking to stay in Fredericton this coming season. A lot of information was handed out about our campgrounds and walking / biking trails.

TRAVEL TRADE UPDATE

CONSUMER MARKET UPDATE


Fredericton Tourism also had a booth at the Fredericton Home Show. This show had three partners, Science East, Kingswood & Maritime CountryFest. A number of edVentures instructors also participated and demonstrated their workshops that will take place this coming July & August. Residents were able to pick up the new Visitor Guide and see what is taking place in our City in the coming months.

Coming up: • Ottawa Travel & Vacation Show: April 2 - 3 • Québec Fête de l’été, Quebec City, PQ : April 15 - 17 • SaltScapes Expo, Halifax, NS : April 29 – May 1

Partnership opportunities There are many upcoming marketing and advertising opportunities for Fredericton Tourism industry members. Here is a brief summary:

HERE Magazine – Summer 2011: We have the back page booked all summer long to promote Fredericton's great festivals, attractions and cultural events. HERE is a provincial publication with approximately 36,000 copies and 1200 distribution points. The style of the magazine is irreverent and youthful, suggesting it is read by an audience that considers itself hip, stylish and modern. Let us know if you are interested in participating in this co-op partnership.

Around Town Daily Gleaner feature – Fredericton Tourism & Downtown Fredericton Inc will be placing a full page ad in The Daily Gleaner every Monday during the summer. The editorial copy will focus on events and activities happening in the city. Advertising spaces are available surrounding the copy. Rates range from $85 - $150 depending on use of colour and frequency of ads. Interested? Let us know who The Daily Gleaner should contact.

Festival Co-op - Fredericton Tourism wishes to support festivals and events who place ads in external markets to drive visitation to Fredericton. If you have a media plan with external markets included, please send a brief explanation of when and where you will be spending marketing dollars, and we’ll talk about how we can help!

Call or email to discuss any of these opportunities!

Patricia Donnelly (Acting on behalf of Holly Kirkpatrick, who will return May 2011)

(506) 460-2044 (P) / (506) 460-2474 (F) or [email protected]

The state-of-the-art Fredericton Convention Centre is ready to open its doors to the public for scheduled tours. A Public Open House and Self-Guided tours are available on Saturday, April 2 from 10am – 4pm and Sunday, April 3 from 2pm – 4pm.

Come and see for yourself this beautiful facility in the heart of downtown

FREDERICTON CONVENTION CENTRE

OPEN FOR PUBLIC TOURS


Fredericton. For more information on the Fredericton Convention Centre or to book an event, tel. 460-2770 or visit www.frederictonconventions.ca.

The Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival will launch its complete 2011 line up on Wednesday, April 27th at the Garrison District Alehouse. The launch will start at 11am, and why not stay for lunch with a Harvest special at 12pm. The Festival has already announced such high calibre headliners as Rock and Roll Hall-of-Famer Gregg Allman, Grammy winning blues guitarist Jonny Lang, JUNO-winning jazz vocalist Sophie Milman, JJ Grey & Mofro, and the Blues Caravan’s Girls with Guitars. Many more exciting performers will be revealed when the complete line up is announced at the launch , prior to tickets and passes going on sale online on Saturday, May 14th at 9am through www.ticketpro.ca.

For more information please contact us at 454-2583

The Guard Program is a historical re-enactment in the Historic Garrison District. Candidates learn and practice basic drill moves and perform twice-daily parades in Officers’ Square. Guards are expected to perform up to three one hour shifts per day of standing on sentry duty and will be responsible for maintaining uniform and equipment to standard. Summer Student Positions begin mid-June to Labour Day and the wage is $9.75/hour, mid-June – Labour day. Shift work and weekend hours required. All applicants are required to complete a Fredericton Tourism application form available at 11 Carleton St. or on the City of Fredericton website, (details below) in addition to submitting a resume. The deadline for applications is 4:30pm on Friday, May 6, 2011.

Forward applications to: Fredericton Tourism, PO Box 130,

(11 Carleton St.), Fredericton, NB E3B 4Y7 Phone : 460-2041, Fax: 460-2474. Email: [email protected]

Website: www.fredericton.ca (select ‘Careers’ under the ‘Keyword’ Menu) or www.tourismfredericton.ca

Only those applicants chosen for interviews will be contacted. The City of Fredericton supports employment equity and encourages applications from all interested individuals.

HARVEST TO LAUNCH ITS 2011 FESTIVAL LINE-UP

CEREMONIAL GUARD

SUMMER EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES


Old Orchard Crafts – formerly on Nevers Road, this popular gift and craft shop has moved downtown to 152 King St (across from Simms Home Hardware). Tel: 455-GIFT

M & T Deli – formerly on the corner of Queen and Regent, M&T has moved just down the street to 546 Queen Street. For more info, tel: 458-9068.

Spring is here! Welcome the new season by getting out and enjoying what Fredericton has to offer. Check out our Calendar of Events by visiting: http://www.tourismfredericton.ca/en/calendar.aspx

A.J. Furlotte, Fredericton Tourism's Operations Assistant, continues to make literature deliveries to accommodations and attractions. Should you require quantities, call A.J. at 460-2954/460-2041 or [email protected]

Published by Fredericton Tourism, 11 Carleton Street, P.O. Box 130, Fredericton, NB E3B4Y7 Phone: (506) 460-2041, Fax: (506) 460-2474, Toll Free: 1-888-888-4768, Website:

www.tourismfredericton.ca

Please contact Debbie Perry if you have tourism news you would like to submit to Tourism Talk. Email: [email protected] ; Phone: (506) 460-2087, Fax: (506) 460-2474

LITERATURE DELIVERY

NEW FACES/NEW PLACES

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Documents

Tourism Talk April 2011