2013 DCBA Strategic Plan - Destination Cape Breton Association

2.0 2013 Marketing Agenda2013 marks the third year for Destination Cape Breton Association as a levy-funded DestinationMarketing Organization (DMO). Over the past two years, DCBA has followed the continuum outlined inthe ACOA tourism plan – Research drives Product Development which drives Marketing. The 2013marketing strategy will closely adhere to this continuum through research and results-based decisions.Research sources include our Travel Intentions and Conversion study conducted through cbisland.comand administered by third party vendor Vision Critical, our Google Analytics, and our operator surveysconducted throughout the summer of 2012.The plans and information in the marketing strategy below are as closely directed by prior research aspossible.2.1 2012 ReviewThe objectives and results for the 2012 tourism season are reviewed below:Increase accommodations Occupancy by 1% (8000 room nights)Cape Breton Island experienced a decline of 1% in occupancy for 2012 over 2011. Atlantic Canadianprovinces experienced the following results as a comparison to our visitation:Occupancy Changes over 20110.50-0.5-1-1.5-2-2.5-3NBNSNFLDPEICBIFigure 2 – Maritime Occupancy and Spend Comparison Increase visitors serviced through CBIsland.com by 15%o 4.73% increase in web visitso 7.37% increase in average time on site Reduce bounce rate to under 30%o Bounce rate was 44.2%• Bounce rate for the “awareness” campaign as recommended by our mediaconsultant was considerably increased due to the impression based goals forthis type of online buy. See comparison below to our internal search basedcampaign.20