Destination Canada Missing A Great Opportunity, Agents Say

Canadian travel retailers would love to work with the folks who are trying to boost Canadian tourism. But they feel ignored by Destination Canada, the federally funded agency that’s charged with boosting the country’s tourism competitiveness.

“I have never been approached by Destination Canada in any way, shape or form,” said Gregory Luciani of TravelOnly. “Which is too bad, as we do a fair bit of domestic business; 15% of our total business.”

Asked if he’s ever been approached by Destination Canada to work as a partner or on a specific campaign, Flemming Friisdahl of The Travel Agent Next Door gave a virtual shake of his head.

“Unfortunately, never.”

Asked if he was aware of any marketing efforts by Destination Canada to promote Canada to Canadian travellers or to the retail community for this coming year or any previously, Friisdahl again gave a shrug.

“I had zero idea. It’s apparently a well-kept secret.”

There’s a reason for that, says Destination Canada President and CEO David Goldstein.

The laws that govern Destination Canada say only that the organization, formerly the Canadian Tourism Commission, is charged with improving Canada’s tourism competitiveness. The Destination Canada website says the group aims to “stimulate international demand and tourism export revenue for Canada” in ten key countries, but Goldstein said there are no legal barriers keeping them from doing more on the domestic front. They’ve done so in the past on a small scale, and they have another $5 million to do domestic work this year. But Goldstein said it’s not Destination Canada’s role to work on the domestic front.

“I’m not dismissing what operators are telling you. But convincing Canadians to travel within Canada is not our problem. Convincing international travellers to choose Canada against a whole bunch of other, competitive destinations; that’s the bigger challenge. And it also has the bigger reward.”

In a lengthy telephone interview with TravelPulse Canada, Goldstein said the average Canadian spends $244 on a trip inside the country. The average U.S. visitors spends nearly $700, while the average international traveller spends more than $1,700.

“We actually don’t have a domestic travel problem in Canada. Eighty per cent of our tourism dollars are from domestic travellers.”

Goldstein said Destination Canada has long taken the position that marketing Canada to Canadians is best left to provincial tourism folks and the country’s major cities, leaving DC to focus on the “high-hanging fruit” on the international side of the ledger.

“Educating Japanese travel partners is far better for ROI” than using taxpayer dollars to educate Canadian travel operators, he said. “If the front page of the Toronto Star had a story about us spending money on how sell Canadians on Canada I’d lose my job. And, by the way, I’m leaving (soon), and I don’t care.”

Goldstein said Destination Canada has a yearly budget of around $95 million, which it gets via a Parliamentary appropriation. A roughly equal amount comes to the organization in cash and in-kind donations, Goldstein said.

The federal government tossed in another $5 million for this year in an effort to boost domestic tourism. That kind of domestic focus also has happened in other years, including two years ago for Canada’s 150th birthday and during the 2009 recession, he said.

“I would imagine if the economy took a bit of a dive we might see our provincial and city partners asking for support in that area.” Ditto if there was a natural disaster or something like a return of SARS to Toronto.

“But it’s not like cities and provinces are clamouring for us to do domestic work. Our provincial and city colleagues are doing a damn fine job stimulating domestic travel in Canada.”

Goldstein also warned it would be a “minefield” if DC got too involved.

“The minute we entertain a domestic campaign there are questions like, ‘Why do you support this area of Newfoundland versus Prince Edward County or northern Manitoba,’ and you start to get into issues of pay for play; do the bigger provinces who have bigger budgets who can partner with you, doo they have a bigger say in the domestic campaign? You can imagine there’s a potential minefield that gets created when we intervene.”

That having been said, Goldstein said the questions agents are asking are useful and that it would be good to discuss the issue of coordinating efforts with travel partners at the September NorthStar 22 meeting, a gathering of Destination Canada figures with their top partners across the country.

“Is there a possibility to coordinate something on the domestic level? I think that’s a valuable discussion to have. But I’m not getting that indication from folks.”

Goldstein’s term expires soon, and the next person in charge might feel differently. Whoever gets the post, agents and retailers in Canada appear eager to chat.

"I do believe that Destination Canada should collaborate with Canadian retail organizations to promote Canada,” said Franca Iuele, Senior Director of Marketing and Product Development for Ensemble Travel Ltd. “It is a huge missed opportunity for both parties. As you know most travel retailers are almost exclusively focused on outbound travel yet many of their clients are also traveling domestically and those bookings are either done by the client or perhaps using an OTA’s or to hotels and airlines direct. Unfortunately, most Canadians would not think of using a travel agency when travelling within Canada unless they are taking an escorted tour or the Rocky Mountaineer; most FIT trips are booked direct.

“The opportunities exist for closer working relationship between Destination Canada and the retail community, especially when it comes to promoting destinations that are closely linked with cruise products, such as pre and post-tours of BC and Alberta sold as part of an Alaska Cruise,” Iuele said. “There’s also Quebec and the Martimes regions sold as a pre-post of the Canada New England Cruises, plus the bucket-list destinations that should and could be booked through a travel retail outlet, such as the Northwest Territories, Churchill, Manitoba, etc.”

“I truly believe Canadian retailers are one of the best resources for any tourist board,, including our own, as we know the client better than anyone and have clients all over the world and in the US,” said TravelOnly’s Luciani. “Most definitely they should be working with us as we don't just provide impressions and clicks; we provide direct bookings which can be measured.”