The RTIA that has been the key marketing anchor for the Eastern Shore, AESTA, is heading to Toronto for the Toronto Trade Show, opening on June 20th, as a morphed acronym. For the first time AESTA will be representing only the Eastern Shore and not Antigonish at the trade show, where it will form part of the Nova Scotia pavilion. The “A” has been taken out of AESTA!
Now for many AESTA operators, the split will seem logical. It has for many, always been a tentative marriage between the Eastern shore tourism operators and those from Antigonish, as far as where the focus for marketing the region is concerned.
The changes come as a result of the new tourism regions crafted by the Dept. of Tourism, Culture and Heritage and form the basis of the Nova Scotia’s 2008 Doer’s and Dreamer’s Guide.
More changes are coming though. At a meeting on May 7th at the DeCoste Centre in Pictou, the consultants for the three RTIA’s, AESTA, CNTA, and Pictou County, presented a new model for the proposed Destination Marketing Organization, (DMO) that has already been agreed to, at least in principle. With more than half of the participants present tourism operators from all three regions, the interest level in the new DMO model was keen.
The objective of the new DMO, as per the handout, “A New tourism Business model for Central/East/North Nova Scotia, is defined as:
-Establish the broader region as a defined tourism destination, with a strategy and business model to make it successful and sustainable in today’s changing and increasingly competitive marketplace.
-A key element is achieving a sufficient and sustainable funding base.
It wasn’t long though before the realization that the “sustainable funding base” has to come from somewhere- and
in the proposed model it comes in the form of a levy or as a Destination Marketing Fee- that there was some disagreement as to where that funding base should come from: “Who me?”
Based on the larger fixed roof accommodations, ie. accommodations with more than 20 rooms, the levy or DMF method of collecting marketing funds for the DMO assumes that industry leaders in the tourism sector will take the lead in the new DMO.
Certainly there are few who would say that Cape Breton’s marketing strategy for the region has not been successful. This, it would seem is the opportunity for AESTA, (without the “A”,) Central Nova, and Pictou County to bring some of the same aggressive marketing strategies as Cape Breton manages, for our region’s operators.
Now to give you some idea of the dog eat dog tourism marketplace just in Ontario, we have seen a dramatic increase in the TV advertising there over the past few months of 2008. Not only has Ontario stepped up its own advertising campaign to keep Ontarians within the province, but other provinces have also stepped in with dramatically increased marketing initiatives over previous years. Add to that the newer markets, like Egypt, and the further afield but yes- we would like some of the Ontarian tourism pie, such as California, and New Jersey, and Ontario has become “the jewel in the crown” to fight for, as far as tourism marketing goes.
Over the winter months there was however a total absence of any TV advertising for Nova Scotia in Ontario, despite the NB, PEI and Newfoundland campaigns- all strong, especially Newfoundland, and the new campaigns by NJ, BC, Egypt, LA, California, Australia and Ireland. Ireland was also a very strong advertising campaign. Hawaii is another recent destination competing for TV spots in Ontario. Of course, this list doesn’t yet include the regular campaigns still to come from Quebec, NY, Florida, South Carolina and Virginia. Nor does it include the sporadic TV campaigns of previous years from Texas, Vermont, Colorado and New Mexico. Clearly all these destinations recognize that Ontario affords a high population density, (40% of the national market,) of which half is in the Greater Toronto Area, (GTA). It also has a high medium income, and a population that is used to travelling.
I personally noted that my web traffic was up at its highest ever in March 2008. This may indeed have been the result of one snow storm after another in Ontario but that isn’t the whole story. In February 2008, DRUM played to enchanted Toronto audiences. The subsequent snow storms in Ontario certainly helped convert some of this enchantment into tourism business for Nova Scotia, I am sure. A peak in my own web stats usually occurs as a direct result of a marketing initiative. I am sure that the same is true on a provincial scale. So clearly we need a strong DMO for our region that has the funding base for major advertising campaigns and which can compete in an ever more complex marketing landscape.
Posted by emeasures 
