The 2014 Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association (CCCTA) Tourism Summit & AGM took place in Williams Lake on Dec. 4-6 and many attendees seized the opportunity to provide strategic input on tourism issues in British Columbia, and the Cariboo-Chilcotin in particular.
CCCTA president Pat Corbett was re-elected for another term, and he notes Destination BC CEO Marsha Walden focused her keynote presentation on the revived Super Natural British Columbia© brand with a new look and corporate strategy.
"She made a presentation on some of the changes that are happening within the marketing of B.C. regionally, provincially, nationally and internationally."
Corbett adds Gold Rush Trail project manager Tanya Wong, along with the Royal BC Museum’s Tzu-I Chung, talked about an exciting new opportunity with the museum's upcoming 2015 Gold Rush! Eldorado in BC exhibit.
"It was a great summit."
One of the awards given out at the meeting was presented to a South Cariboo organization.
The Best Tourism Marketing Initiative award recognizes a regional stakeholder for a marketing initiative or campaign that successfully increases business and enhances the area's tourism industry.
This year, it was awarded to Interlakes Economic Association (IEA) for its successful summer marketing campaign.
IEA president Dianne Lawson says the IEA is "thrilled" to receive this recognition for its summer marketing initiative.
"It's basically the Music @ the Lakes, the [Interlakes] Farmers’ Market and all the marketing tactics that surrounded those new events."
These included mailing out event calendars to all the households in the South Cariboo and as far away as Kamloops, Cache Creek and some North Thompson communities, as well as radio campaigns in Kamloops and 100 Mile House.
Lawson says much credit for the 22 new events developed, marketed and delivered during the Interlakes summer season goes to IEA's Arts, Culture and Events Committee and its chair Shelly Durand (also an IEA board member).
The summer marketing initiative could not have been realized without the financial support of Destination BC through the Community Tourism Opportunity program and Northern Development Initiatives Trust, Lawson notes.