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Tourism Whistler puts post-Olympic plans into motion

Focus will return to long-haul and destination markets, wider resort experience

Tasked with the job of bringing visitors to the resort year-round, Tourism Whistler has had to adjust to a changing travel market time and time again over the past few years and spend its resources accordingly.

However, with the global economic crisis that unfolded in 2008 - itself coming on the heels of other challenges like the rising price of fuel, new passport requirements and a surging Canadian dollar, as well as the prospect of the Olympic aversion effect - Tourism Whistler decided to refocus its resources on the regional market. That has meant Alberta, Washington and the Vancouver area for the most part, although some resources were still devoted to marketing the resort Canada-wide, as well as to key markets in the U.S. and overseas markets like the U.K. and Australia.

Now, with the Olympics in the history books and signs that the economy may be improving, Tourism Whistler has changed its strategy once again.

"If we go back the last two years with the economic downturn, the long-haul U.S. market clearly showed us that they were staying close to home," explained Barrett Fisher, president and CEO of Tourism Whistler.

"The exchange rates of the U.S. and U.K. took a dive compared to the Canadian dollar, so in the value equation that made it more expensive for those markets to travel to Canada. And because those markets were also struggling, strategically our board agreed two years ago to focus on close-in, core markets."

The decision to focus on the regional market was successful, with solid skier numbers in the 2008-09 season and better than forecast numbers for 2009-2010, when Olympic aversion was a factor. The summer of 2009 was also the resort's best ever for room nights, although lower-priced rooms in general meant a lower yield for accommodation providers. The local market spent less on retail and food and beverage, booked closer in, and stayed for shorter lengths of time.

In the months following the Olympic Games, Tourism Whistler conducted three listening sessions and an online survey with its nearly 1,000 members. Fisher says the consensus was that it was time to refocus Tourism Whistler's efforts on attracting the destination market while leveraging the exposure the resort received during the 2010 Winter Games - a move she says Tourism Whistler's research data also supports.

"While the economy is not coming back as quickly as we would like, we always knew that the close-in, core market strategy was really a short-term shift to sustain our resort economy through the crisis - and that we needed to win the destination markets back," said Fisher.

She says Tourism Whistler performs analysis of every market. In general, they've found that visitors from the region spend one to three days in the resort. Mid-haul markets from Canada and the U.S. might spend three to five nights, while international travellers from the U.K. and Australia will spent seven to 10 nights.

Refocusing on the destination market means focusing marketing efforts on long-haul U.S. markets, the U.K., Germany, Australia, Mexico and Japan, as well as giving China more attention since Canada received Approved Destination Status. Additionally, Tourism Whistler is keeping an eye on developing markets like Brazil and India - both of which show promise, and are where the Canadian Tourism Commission is already laying groundwork.

That's not to say that Tourism Whistler is abandoning the regional market.

"All of these markets are important and we need to have a balanced portfolio," said Fisher. "And really, Whistler was built for that. Economically, to be sustainable, we need a balanced portfolio of regional, national and international markets - we need all of these markets to be successful."

Tourism Whistler is also changing the way it markets itself, focusing more on television and digital media like the Internet and less on ads in newspapers and magazines.

Part of the rationale for that decision has to do with the need to tell a bigger story, says Fisher, referring to another strategic change that will focus more on the total resort experience than specific activities.

"One of the pieces that came out loud and clear in our listening sessions is the importance of telling the whole Whistler story and really showcasing the breadth and depth of all of Whistler's options for visitors," explained Fisher. "In winter, skiing will still be the biggest piece... but we believe this is the time to showcase all of Whistler's unique experiences through a collage of images in our broadcasting and digital media."

It's not a new approach, Fisher acknowledges. Whistler already has promotional pieces for summer and winter seasons that show a wide range of activities and attractions, but it has been difficult to get that all across through traditional print ads.

The expanded approach will showcase things like the village experience, the nature experience, niche activities like Nordic skiing and cultural tourism, and other resort activities that haven't been showcased as often.

"It's building on the Olympic awareness and then telling a broader story of Whistler in order to really give a far broader scope of reasons as to why people should come," said Fisher. "Research shows that customers are looking for a certain driver, like skiing, but it's all of the surrounding experiences and activities and events and offerings that convince them that (Whistler) is truly excellent value for the money and the most amazing to choose over anyone else with the same product marketing."

As well as the destination market, Tourism Whistler is also investing in attracting the group sales market - particularly the conference market that has been in decline in recent years as companies have clamped down on expenses.

"The good news is that prior to the global (economic) meltdown we probably saw a doubling of group meetings in the four-year period since the renovation of the conference centre," said Fisher.

In order to build that market - which can draw large numbers to the resort in the off-seasons - Tourism Whistler is focusing its efforts on meeting planners across Canada and in the eastern U.S.

"Once we can get (the meeting planners) here they are 99 per cent sold," said Fisher. "It's really difficult to envision the product until they get here."

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in June of 2009 was Whistler's largest to date. In co-operation with Whistler Blackcomb and local hotels the resort hosted 1,750 delegates plus another 750 family members over four days. Fisher said it took some creativity to work with a group that size, but it shows that Whistler is capable of hosting larger conferences.

Other initiatives in Tourism Whistler's strategy include shifting some focus to niche markets - such as Nordic, health and wellness, and arts and culture - and improving communication with members.

On the last point, Fisher says it became clear that Tourism Whistler needed to do more to communicate with businesses.

"We do have regular all-member meetings and we do have sessions with the hotels, as well as restaurants and bar groups... but the feedback we got was that businesses can't always attend regular meetings," she said. "If we have 100 members come to an all-members meeting and we have 1,000 members, we're only reaching 10 per cent. So for us it's about reaching the other 90 per cent.

"It's about recognizing that many of our members are small businesses and entrepreneurs that are really trying to focus on keeping their heads above water in tough economic times, and don't have the time to come out."

Fisher said Tourism Whistler will host more small meetings and workshops that reach out to different groups and sectors, collecting information and suggestions from those participants while providing updates on Tourism Whistler's strategies that they can put to use.

"After the global meltdown we got a lot of feedback from businesses who wondered why we had stepped back from destination markets, and it was simply because they weren't coming and it made more sense to shift our focus. We really need to do a better job sharing that information with our members on which markets are travelling, why other markets aren't travelling, why we're shifting our strategies and so on. I believe we can do a better job in engaging more of our members in our strategies than we have in the past."