An analogy shared with me this past year has stuck with me and as we prepare for our year ahead, it helps to maintain my faith in brighter days to come. The interesting thing about the light at the end of the tunnel is that it leads to places we’ve not been before. Our focus and drive to arrive at the end of that tunnel, leads us to new adventures and opportunities. We will not return to where we entered, but work towards building anew. Creating an environment where we can recover, grow, and evolve. That light is inspiring, refreshing, and energizing. I am excited about the light that awaits. This light represents all of you. Your unwavering support for Tourism Kamloops and your continued vision for a thriving tourism industry demonstrates your resilience and your fierce commitment to building a stronger community and destination.
We know the past two years have been long and hard, devastating for many, uncertain and still bears so many challenges and unknowns. We are confident and optimistic that 2022 will be a year of action and recovery. Our team is prepared and focused. Our plans position Kamloops and, you, our mighty tourism industry for optimal outcomes. We are resilient - we have harnessed our resources, employed an incredible team of passionate experts, we intimately know our markets, and are developing some of our biggest and boldest campaigns ever. We will continue to fiercely advocate for you and your businesses for further supports and funding to endure continued uncertainty. We will ensure that our elected officials know that the recovery of our tourism industry is integral to our economic recovery.
Booster vaccinations continue to roll out, there is broader pandemic immunity, and the pent-up demand for travel is palpable. We know competition will be fierce. Our competitive advantage lies in our relentless and fearless pursuit to challenge the norm, our ability to create inspiring and curiosity evoking campaigns to entice visitors back, develop experiences that deliver beyond expectation in our safe and welcoming destination, elevate and activate our collective resources and intelligence, and swiftly and strategically innovate our community’s embrace and advocacy for our local tourism industry.
These opportunities form the core of Tourism Kamloops’ strategic plan for the next 5 years.
Last fall, we engaged so many of you throughout our tourism industry and across our community to inform our strategic priorities and understand opportunities to deliver the greatest impact for your businesses. Working with global destination experts at Destination Next, you confirmed that our current platforms were still relevant; however, needed some updating and realignment to acknowledge and capitalize on global trends and insights.
MISSION, VISION, PURPOSE & VALUES
Our mission and vision remain, and no changes have been made to these areas; however, we have added a Purpose statement which defines our organization's core reason for being and our resulting impact.
Our Purpose:
Amplify our community with intention, unleashing the power of our BOLD, REAL people, and spaces.
Our Mission:
Partner with stakeholders as the leader for strategic development support and planning through implementing innovative technological marketing strategies to promote Kamloops as a valued tourism destination.
Our Vision:
Come share the experience and play like a local.
Our Values:
These value statements were developed from our conversations with you throughout our planning engagement and outline our guiding principles and fundamental beliefs.
- Be real. Be bold. Be you.
- Our community is our soul. Create greatness together.
- Live with intention.
- Fiercely protect the spaces we live and play in.
- Act inclusively, live diversely.
- Be the voice for this valley. If you are loud enough, it will echo.
PLATFORMS
Our strategies have emerged from data collected by Destination Next's 2021 Futures Study - a study that included over 700 global leaders from 52 countries spanning all tourism sectors. If you recall - our previous strategic platforms were Community & Stakeholder, Experience, Sustainability, Brand & Innovation.
All the research from the Futures Study identified these transformational opportunities and very much represented our existing strategic platforms:
- Destination Alignment - represents Community and Stakeholder
- Destination Development - represents Experience & Sustainability
- Values Based Marketing - represents Brand
- Organizational Excellence - represents Innovation
Injecting our BOLDness, we evolved these transformational opportunities to strategies that resonate with and speak to our attitudes:
- Destination Alignment - means Think Community First
- Destination Development - means Amplify Experiences
- Values Based Marketing - means Be Bold "er"
- Organizational Excellence - mean Thrive
The winning formula for Kamloops’ tourism economy will leverage collective knowledge, collaborative partnerships, and bold branding with all stakeholders to recapture our destination competitiveness. Tourism is a leading economic driver for our city and the bold strategies outlined in our 2022 – 2027 Strategic Plan commit to rebuilding a stronger, more vibrant tourism economy.
APPROACH
THINK COMMUNITY FIRST
The essence of Think Community First is putting our community at the core of all we do. We will align government, community, and industry priorities. We will act as brand managers to promote our city as a premier destination to live, work and visit. We will unite and engage all community and industry partners inclusively - championing stakeholder engagement, communication, enrichment, and collaboration.
AMPLIFY EXPERIENCES
This peaks to developing our destination - leading meaningful collaborations and creative ideation. Identify, create, and enhance partnerships to curate more immersive destination experiences, promote visitor growth, focus on economic development, preserve and improve our environment, elevate our quality of life and quality of place.
BE BOLD”ER”
Be Bolder outlines our passionate and BOLD ability to tell our authentic destination story. Our marketing is impactful, creating curiosity and connection to our special place. Our approach is collaborative and focused bringing experiences together through creative and innovative partnerships to reach and convert target audiences. Our boldness drives our competitive spirit and challenges the norm.
THRIVE
Our relentless fight for our important and valuable tourism economy. Innovation, data, technology, talented and highly skilled people, fiscal prudence, fearless leadership, and agility build organizational resilience so that we can withstand global disruptions and crises.
Our new 5-year strategic plan positions our industry and your businesses on a strong trajectory for recovery and growth. We know what it takes to compete, and we know that together we are stronger. We will continue to share information about our plans in the coming months and are always available to have conversations to understand how we can help you.
Our light is powerful. It will lead us well and will ignite our BOLD, brave, and tenacious spirits. 2022…we got you!