The First Annual Kamloops Tourism Summit – A Success!
 

Tourism Kamloops successfully kicked off our first annual Kamloops Tourism Summit last Thursday, April 21st, welcoming almost 80 delegates and 15 exhibitors!  The inaugural event was hosted at Hotel 540 and welcomed attendees to network during the opening tradeshow, located in Mountview Terrace, followed by dinner in the Rivers Room, prepared by Chef Mitch Shafer featuring salmon donated by RiverFresh Wild BC Salmon.  Tradeshow exhibitors included local tour operators: BC Wildlife Park, TasteFull Excursions, Kamloops Heritage Railway, Tailgate Tours, Harper’s Trail Winery, Paddle Surfit, Rocky Mountaineer, RiverFresh and Kamloops Winery Association as well as industry resource providers including Royal Roads University, Work BC Employment Services and Canada Logo. Regional partners such as Shuswap Tourism, Quaaout Lodge & Talking Rock Golf Resort and Backcountry Lodges of BC Association were also featured. 

 The keynote address, “Storytelling with Heart: How Stories Build Brand, Culture and Customers” was delivered by Maureen Douglas -  During the keynote address, the audience was encouraged to share their stories with their table and then with the entire group.  Feelings of inspiration and excitement amongst the audience was evident, encouraging storytelling to become a natural, authentic means of promoting and marketing their experiences.

 

 

To complete the event, Tourism Kamloops announced the creation and recipient of the Tourism Experience Excellence Award sponsored by Rocky Mountaineer.  The recipient of this year’s award was chosen after careful deliberation between the Tourism Kamloops Board of Directors and the Tourism Kamloops team using the following criteria:
 

  • Demonstrates high levels of service excellence
  • Contributes to destination marketing and destination advocacy
  • Is a unique experience that continually improves or enhances offerings
  • Looks for opportunities to collaborate with other tourism partners
  • Is regarded as an exceptional experience provider amongst visitors to Kamloops as noted through TripAdvisor reviews
  • Continually strives for business growth and aligns experience offerings in shoulder seasons

Tourism Kamloops recognized Kamloops Heritage Railway as the deserving recipient of the 2016 Tourism Experience Excellence Award.  To honour this year’s recipient, Rocky Mountaineer generously donated a trip for 2 on their Silver Leaf service in addition to a commemorative framed iconic Kamloops landscape image and plaque.

The Kamloops Tourism Summit was created at the request of tourism industry stakeholders with the goals of educating, accessing industry resources and providing networking opportunities beneficial to the Kamloops tourism community.  To build upon this year’s Kamloops Tourism Summit, a follow up survey will be distributed to event attendees to ensure that we continue to deliver relevant and timely information during industry events.

 

Many thanks to our Corporate Sponsors:    

 

 

And to all of our prize donors: