In conjunction with Tourism Week, Tourism Prince George has announced the release of their 2020-2024 Strategic Plan.
In an interview with MyPGNow, Tourism PG CEO Erica Hummel said there are a couple of significant shifts in the plan from what the organization is currently doing.
“In the past, destination organizations such as ours have been really focusing on marketing, and that’s fine to some extent, but really what’s on the supply side, what are the visitors experiencing, what can they book, and what can they do here — that’s all part of our wheelhouse now.”
Hummel said as Tourism PG moves forward, they’re wanting to ensure they’re market ready for potential visitors from across the globe, as well as trying to keep tourists to the area staying for longer than one night.
“To make it more of an industry with an economic impact, our job is to bring more product to the market,” said Hummel.
There’s also been talk for years with regards to the current location of Tourism Prince George’s visitor centre, and whether or not its the right location.
“We’re going to be taking a serious look at that and do a feasibility study around where’s the best location and model for delivering visitor services.”
The organization has also begun to pump marketing through Destination British Columbia, which will help get Prince George on the international map for destinations to visit. According to Hummel, they will also go through a rebranding process in the not too distant future, which she believes will set the stage for how the Northern Capital appeals to potential visitors.
In recent years, Prince George has truly placed its stamp on both the national and international sports scene, and while PG looks to continue in drawing events and tournaments to the area, Tourism PG is also looking into addressing the desire for other interests such as arts and entertainment to the city.
“That’s one of the other shifts that we’re moving towards, we call it Urban Tourism,” said Hummel. “The downtown culinary scene is amazing, and we’re starting to get these downtown festivals that are multi-day events, and really worth someone spending a long weekend or plan around. As these things are building, there are more and more reasons to come for the arts, and there are reasons to come for events.”
“If you happened to be here for something else, it was coincidental that this was happening, but it wasn’t always the reason why you wanted to make a trip. Now we’re seeing that product is at a place where people are actually motivated enough to book around it.”
Highlights of the plan include goals the organization has set forth for themselves, including an increase in the Net Promoter Score, increase in revenues by five per cent annually, increasing the overall market readiness of the destination, as well as increasing their stakeholder satisfaction.