Let’s Talk Tourism ! Grey County Tourism 2013 Update & 2014 Priorities November 20, 2013

2 Today’s Agenda Grey County’s Tourism & Economic Development Team Brief Update on DDAP – Past Accomplishments Activities in 2013 Priorities for 2014 Introductions Where We’ve Been Where We Want to Go Where We Are Now Discussion & Questions Throughout

3 Four Baskets of Economic Development Services County Roles in Economic Development Service Delivery, p. 41. Fischer & Associates, 2012 Tourism & Economic Development Dept.

4 DDAP Goals Grow GCT’s role as a collaborative tourism leader Use research to build market insight, track performance and guide product development Align Grey’s marketing with communication strategy and demand generators Support further development of Grey County’s top demand generators Leadership Set broad goals for GCT’s areas of responsibility Market Research Demand Generators Marketing

5 Destination Development Action Plan Operational Leadership Market Research Demand Generators Marketing Grey County Tourism Advisory Committee Purpose: To strategically support the County of Grey’s goal within its corporate strategic plan: Securing the County’s place as Ontario’s recreation jewel and Expanding the prosperity base. Scope - Strategic Monitoring of emerging trends in tourism and for realignment of the County’s resources accordingly. Utilization of research to build market insight, track performance and guide product development. Growth of Grey County Tourism’s role as a collaborative tourism leader. Monitoring of Grey County Tourism Destination Development Action Plan. Economic Development & Tourism Strategy Scheduled for DDAP Report back end of set priorities for 2014 Grey County Tourism - structure

6 100 visitor surveys at 8 VICs Satisfaction ratings stay the same or  Support to Apple Pie Trail start-up Apple Pie Trail packages (BMVA) Fall colour & harvest Google rankings  Communication strategy adopted Completed DDAP 1st Talk Tourism Region 7 Transition co-chair 2010 Annual update to municipalities RTMP Distribution Strategy Region 7 Research published Region 7 brand insights Support to Horse & Buggy Trail start-up Grey County Cycling Routes Regional Fall colour & harvest ad campaign in place Motorcycle/snowmo- bile tours further developed Seasonal marketing New Winter Waterfalls Campaign Web traffic  15% New videos: Cycling & Paddling 2011 LeadershipMarket ResearchDemand GeneratorsMarketing DDAP Past Accomplishments

7 New RTO7 research – Grey County: image, awareness Google Analytics GBay Coastal Route Signage completed  Paddling Kiosks Saugeen River Cycling Workshops - 20 Certified members Website Strategy & Upgrade RFP Assist with Grey County Branding Web traffic  16% RTO7 Board member RTMP GBDDP Executive 2012  DMOs Relationship with RTO7  GBDDP International Marketing Project RTOs 7, 13a, 12 Grey County research Summary Web Personas Cycling research  RTO7 Consumer Insight Research  Grey County Cycling Project /RTO7 RTMP Expanded Fall campaign  Key festivals & events profiled website Winter Waterfalls Campaign Implement new Brand Expand social media/mobile Expand Media Relations Web traffic flat to date  Website Rebuild /15 Plan Update... LeadershipMarket ResearchDemand GeneratorsMarketing DDAP Past Accomplishments

8 Grow GCT’s role as a collaborative tourism leader

9 Market Research Grey County RTO7 Consumer Insight Marketing Top 10 Bucket List Website Development Project Demand Generators Cycling Development 2013 Priorities

2012 Attendance Trends At 19 Grey County Events & Attractions 10 No. Number of Events/Attractions by % Change Overall Attendance DecreaseSame+0-5%+6-10%+11-20>20% % Change Gated Events (counted) ,85071,6557% Non-Gated Events (estimated) ,795149,96232% Attractions (counted) ,108277,93214% TOTAL ,764501,56118% 7 Gated Attractions Ecoadventure Grey Roots Museum Le ScandinavePlunge Scenic Caves Nordic Tom Thompson Gallery Saugeen CA – Durham Day Use Grey Sauble CA – Inglis FallsCraigleith PP Day Use 3 Gated Events Centurion Cycling Salmon Spectacular Summerfolk Prepared by RMCG based on data collected by Grey County Tourism 9 Non-Gated Events Apple HarvestChristmas in the Country Doors Open Elvis at Blue Festival of Northern Lights Holstein Maplefest Holstein Rodeo Owen Sound Ribfest Salsa at Blue  Over half a million attendees (don’t know proportion visitors)  12 increased, 3 the same and 4 decreased

Grey County Visitor Characteristics 11  Data compiled annually from: Travel Survey of Residents of Canada and International Travel Survey  The sample of Grey County visitors is small (+/-400 people who visited Grey County as part of a pleasure or business trip within the previous months)  The characteristics of Grey County visitors was quite consistent throughout the period Visitor Characteristics ( Average) Place of Origin Ontario95% Permanent Residence Top 4 Census DivisionsToronto Bruce County Waterloo County Wellington County Average Party Size3.0 Party Composition Adults only Children in party 75% 25% Length of Stay Overnight Day 50% Accommodation Private home/cottage Fixed roof commercial Camping/trailer Other 60% 30% 5% Activities Visiting Friends & Relatives Top 4 Activities 40% Skiing/boarding Golfing Fishing Boating Prepared by RMCG based on OMTCS Regional Tourism Profile for Grey County, rounded to nearest 5%

Priorities - Marketing

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18 Discussion Points – Larger # of events should be included, perhaps offer incentive to participate - Could template be created and shared out to municipalities/event organizers to complete and feed up to county level - Very little uptake of RTO7 segmentation report amongs those present, but seen as an opportunity in future 2013 Tracking/Market Research

Priorities - Marketing

Priorities - Marketing

Grey County Tourism Website Development Let’s Talk Tourism November 20 th, 2013

Grey County Tourism Website Project Review 1.Primary Research & Personas 2.Architecture & Navigation 3.Design Concepts 4.Templates – Desktop & Mobile 5.What Next? Content Analysis, Creation & Acquisition CRM System Development Site Build & Functionality Content Migration Site Launch

Grey County Tourism Website Primary Research and Personas Three sectors were surveyed: 1.Internal stakeholders (tourism & county staff, elected representatives) 2.External stakeholders (operators & organizations) 3.Grey County visitors Research led to development of user profiles, or “personas”, further identified and segmented by: 1.Travel (or business) motivation 2.Devices used to access visitgrey.ca 3.Website usage goals 4.User interface / experience considerations

Grey County Tourism Website Primary Research and Personas Five main website user groups were identified: 1.Adult couples – looking to unplug and have a hassle-free, relaxing getaway 2.Families with kids – looking to have adventures, create family memories, find local food 3.Retirees / Older In-Market – looking for activities to share with visiting family and friends 4.Young Travelers – looking for adventure, camping 5.Operators – looking to have optimized listings

Grey County Tourism Website Architecture & Navigation Levels 1 and 2

Grey County Tourism Website Design Concepts Overview: The Grey County Tourism website is a highly visual and interactive web experience that allows users to explore and interact with the County before visiting. Key Design Principles: Showcase multi-faceted experiences Quality imagery is critical Visitors are interested in curated experiences – don’t show everything (avoid the “Yellow Pages” experience) Remember the end users – what they want to find and how Key Benefit Statement: Grey County offers four seasons of active outdoor experiences, relaxing getaways and thriving local culture where the Niagara Escarpment meets Georgian Bay.

Grey County Tourism Website Design Concepts Key Design Rationale: The Grey County Tourism website allows the viewer to imagine the experiences that they could enjoy in Grey County and offers carefully curated suggestions as a starting point for exploration. The idea is to take users on a visual journey, allowing them to see a range of possibilities and highlighting multi-faceted that are easy to explore together. In order to engage a broad audience and to showcase the beauty of Grey County, the site is designed to speak to different types of tourists through the use of journey path ideas on the home page and distinct, harmonized typography, photography and graphic elements throughout. Journey Paths: Home page journey paths will reflect current product development priorities and match marketing initiatives (will also group itineraries by region).

Grey County Tourism Website Templates - Desktop Website consists of home page with “journey paths” offering seasonal curated itineraries for travelers seeking Relaxation, Culture and Adventure (for a total of 12 itineraries a year) Sub-pages include: – Level 1 pages offer overviews of main categories, i.e.: Play, Eat, Stay, Unique to Grey, Events – Level 2 features sub-categories i.e.: Outdoor Activities, Communities – Level 3 pages dig down to specifics i.e.: Skiing, Waterfalls, Galleries plus individual business / experience listings – Maps; build-your-own-itinerary; events calendar, photo gallery, blog Mega-menus on home page allow people to jump to Level 1 and 2 pages without clicking-through all navigation levels

Grey County Tourism Website Templates - Mobile Mobile display features same graphics on iPad type devices Simplified, streamlined graphics on phones with similar look, feel and action to full site There will be no level 1 “overview” pages, mega-menus will go directly to individual categories (fewer clicks) Level 2 and 3 pages will feature exact same content and functionality Site is adaptive or responsive (based on platform) to conform to various screen sizes and shapes, has been tested on all common sizes / platforms

GCT Website - What Next? Content Analysis, Creation & Acquisition 1.Review existing content on existing site & apply one of the following actions: Create new CRM (database) listing from CMS (text) entry Use as descriptive or header text Re-purpose as blog entry Re-purpose as mapped route/tour Retire content 2.Solicit, create and purchase new photography 3.Solicit, create and purchase written content

GCT Website - What Next? Photography Photography must demonstrate at least three of the following “E’s”: – Experiential, Engaging, Emotional, Evocative, Entertaining, Expressive We are building our photo library of natural attractions, communities, activities and events We will rely on operators to supply photos of businesses (inside and out, winter and summer) which will be used for individual listings and throughout the site

GCT Website - What Next? CRM System Development CRM = Customer / Client / Constituent / Contact Relationship Management tool A CRM system is a database on steroids: it warehouses information about any person, place or thing but also: pushes public-facing info to the website integrates with mapping tracks communications in the back-end handles e-commerce allows for project planning and reporting generates mailing & inventory lists much more

GCT Website - What Next? Site Build & Functionality Every operator, location, or experience on the site will be searchable and accessible via the mega-menu, level 1 landing pages, level 2 listings pages, and level 3 individual listings Everything with a physical location will be mapped and GPS-friendly including scenic lookouts, boat launches etc. (i.e.: attractions not associated to businesses) Pre-made tour routes will be easy to find, access and follow on mobile devices Build-your-own itineraries will allow for dreaming and wish-listing Every page will be built to pull in not just “person, place or thing” listings from the CRM, but also to feature related content and drive to nearby locations, amenities and events via the mapping tool

GCT Website - What Next? Content Migration Information will be cleaned, updated then transferred from the existing tourism database (as per above) New content and mapped tours will be created to reflect site priorities and “journey path” themes of Adventure, Relaxation and Culture, plus level 1 activities like Outdoor Sights, Outdoor Activities etc. and level 2 experiences like On-Road Cycling, Fall Colour Tours etc. An API web system will allow for sharing of our information to partner sites and vice-versa

GCT Website - What Next? Site Launch Things we’ll think about in winter / spring of 2014: SEO Social Media Marketing User Testing & Soft Launch Hard Launch – anticipated Summer 2014

36 Discussion Points New website needs specific photos from operators, Grey County will send out a list to attendees of specific requests. Industry site, newsletter - Less formal, more frequent blasts, facebook, other?? Grey County will send out survey to operators. New website does “curate” content on front page. How will the content be selected? Grey County will provide criteria and rationale Setting up an industry facebook group was suggested Weekly e-blast of events should be maintained with new site (and will be !) Social media workshop was strongly recommended by attendees, twitter training, facebook advertising, Operators should like and share across social media platforms – an agreement for sharing should be created – eg. mususems do this – best times to post at 3 pm, 11:55 am and Sundays 8:30 am Map of WiFi hot spots in Grey Bruce? Website Development

37 Grow GCT’s role as a collaborative tourism leader Discussion For Today - Maintain Status Quo with RTMP, Georgian Bay Partners ? -Yes. -Next steps in DMOs working with RTO7 – suggestions/discussion: - Some discussion that RTO7 communication didn’t seem relevant or valuable, some operators do not feel connected to Simcoe County - Alternate view that there are benefits to regional approach, RTO7 has resources, is here to stay, lets work with them - Should more alignment occur, ie communicate through DMOs from RTO to operator? - Could RTO7 look at best practices in other RTO’s, what is working an implement those? Other countries have a strong regional system, eg. Ireland, Italy, New Zealand. - Suggestion to more clearly delineate 3 counties on RTO7 site, eg. colour coded and to link similar content, ie. if you like this, you may also like this…. - RTO7 could lead customer service ambassadorship.

38 Website Buildout – Social Media Signage – Wayfinding Community Identifier Developing Experiences Ontario Signature Collection Next steps Continue Cycling Development Cycling updates available in industry site New Marketing Campaign Retaining Agency of Record – New Campaign, engage new brand Media program under development Priorities for 2014

Thanks for your time today ! Grey County Tourism Team November 20, 2013