2013 DCBA Strategic Plan - Destination Cape Breton Association

In an effort to increase awareness of our tourism product / experiences among our VIC staff and islandoperators, DCBA initialized a Familiarization (FAM) tour in 2012 that engaged 22 core VIC staff andindustry participants visiting 27 island operators.As storytelling and the use of technology have become priorities within our VIC training, all core VIC staffparticipated in Story Telling and Technology Workshops. Technology training included online and socialmedia engagement, as well as itinerary and brochure creation on cbisland.com.Research is a driving force behind all DCBA initiatives; therefore, in an effort to better service ourvisitors, we have collected data on what collateral our visitors want to use. DCBA has discovered thatour visitors are requesting: provincial and regional travel guides, brochures based on key travelmotivators, trail information, outdoor activities, walking maps, artisan information, major attractions,and other destinations. Overall we observed a decrease in traditional rack cards.With 86,662 cruise ship passengers landing in Sydney in 2012, DCBA continued our partnership withDCBA’s Cruise Ship Information Kiosk and the Golden K.DCBA is continuing to have a Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with local tourism associations ormunicipalities in operating VICs on Cape Breton Island. DCBA administers funding through a provincialemployment fund, provides training, supervision, payroll services, and hosts the internet networkconnecting them to DCBA and each other. The Baddeck Area Business and Tourism Association (BABTA),the Margaree Tourism Association, the Municipality of Richmond County and Cape Breton RegionalMunicipality (through our current sustainability funding) are fully engaged financially with theirrespective VICs to cover cost over and above the PEP subsidy. DCBA continues to provide training,supervision and support to the VICs covered under these agreements, as well as to two community VICsin Cheticamp and Inverness.The Visitor Information Centre (VIC) Committee was established in early April 2011. The role of thecommittee is to identify essential components of visitor information services necessary to develop aVisitor Information Strategy (VIS) that will be a foundation piece of DCBA’s marketing program. In 2013,we will work with industry, municipal, and community partners to develop a strategy that meets theneeds of the visitor, while driving incremental tourism revenues in Cape Breton.The Visitor Information Services Committee is a sub-committee of the Industry Committee.Visitor Services Committee:Visitor Services ManagerIndustry RepresentativePort Hastings VIC (Provincial representative)Industry RepresentativeIndustry RepresentativeIndustry Representative43