Repositioning trends in the tourism industry

© 2004 Tod Maffin Inc.

The potential is enormous. With world-class hotels and magnificent views, British Columbia is poised to enter lead world’s mindshare in 2010, much as it did in 1985 for the world exposition. With that province-wide opportunity comes tremendous opportunity for hotels, conference planners, and others involved in the hospitality industry to reposition their own properties to benefit.

Luckily, we can look to past experiences with other cities in our position for a glimpse into our looming future. Here are four key repositioning lessons to be learned, coming out of the Sydney Olympics.

Strategic Bandwagon Jumping

You might be faulted for rooting for the Canucks in the last game of the series, but you’d be foolish to not jump on the Olympics bandwagon in the coming years. In the case of the Sydney Olympics, Australia leveraged the Games using four strategies: repositioning the country by capitalizing on media, aggressively seeking convention business, minimizing the diversion effect of the Games, and promoting pre- and post-Games touring. As the Director of the Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau put it, “I tell [convention planners] that if we can host an Olympic Games, we can host anything.”

Don’t Ignore the Trendsetters

With the Internet (and, particularly, the blogging craze) creating an international corps of amateur journalists, embrace these new models of reporting about your city and province. In Sydney, tourism officials established a media centre for unaccredited journalists – providing a place for students, alternative media, and bloggers (many of which sport a readership rivaling that of so-called “real” media outlets) to file stories.

Put the Media on Payroll

Just as Vancouver is looking to reposition from an adventure destination to a more fully developed convention destination, Australia was keen to rid itself of the “Crocodile Dundee” image by which it was still perceived in many international markets. To do this, they launched a “Visiting Journalists Program” where key travel writers were recruited to write about or film the country in the years leading up to the Games. This generated positive press and, most importantly, buzz.

Sell the Region as an Add-On

Australia’s tourism officials developed a set of tours that Olympic visitors could purchase for travel outside Sydney before, during or after the Games. For instance, Perth — more than 4,000 km away – feared that the Games would draw away those who might otherwise visit their city. So, Perth implemented a “gateway” strategy and sold packages to U.K. visitors that positioned as their city as the place to visit on the way to or from the Olympic Games.

In time, Melbourne became the number two conference and convention destination. From the time the Olympic bid was won, through to the end of 1999, Sydney won 202 bids for conference and convention business. Those bids generated 251,280 delegates and over 1.3 million room nights.

Make no mistake. The competition is intense. Atlantic City is also trying to reposition from a casino day-trip destination to a resort and convention hotspot – the addition of a 500,000 square foot convention center and expansion of area airports is helping there. Similarly, the Lake Tahoe and Reno areas is finding booming success with its conference business, thanks to a repositioning strategy.

Posted August 8, 2004 Comments