Practically unheard of in these times of rising gas prices and decreasing tourism numbers everywhere, our own Upper Clements Park has bucked the trend with a 6% rise in traffic for the 2008 season.  We're looking into exactly how they accomplished this Herculean feat, so we'll let you know what we find out.

Despite increases for the last four years running, Upper Clements Park (which includes a 30 acre wildlife park that opens for the 2009 season this Saturday) remains one of the largely undiscovered gems of Annapolis Digby.  Quietly situated off the main provincial artery (Hwy #101), it's a guaranteed safe, fun and activity-packed place to take the kids.

And now with the multi-talented Simone Wilson installed as the park's new marketing manager, and with the weather warming up more and more every day, we're sure there will be many more great activities happening when the amusement park opens on June 17!

Inn by the Bay is a 6 bedroom B & B located in Dildo, Newfoundland. Last year they increased their gross revenues $20,000 by offering specials such as "Scrapbooking Weekend" and "Fall Frolic". They provided what they do best - a beautiful Victorian ambiance with charming high teas and lovely rooms - and partnered for the rest - the "experts" who provided the workshops. There is definitely something we can learn here. If you have a skill, be it in a craft of some kind, an activity or even an engaging story to tell, consider approaching a B & B operator to discuss partnering to create and market an engaging package. B & B operators, consider people in the community who could provide your guests with a unique experience and work to make the guests' stay with you a priceless memory.

 

Multigenerational travel is a BIG - and growing market segment. Baby boomers may be 55+, but they are fit and active and on the move.... and they are on the move with their children and grandchildren! How to tap into this demographic? First off, recognize that today's children are travel influencers in their own right. No longer are they packed in the family car and taken wherever the parents want to go. Kids' vacation input is solicited and valued in most families (hence the success of all things Disney).

We have several kid-friendly attractions/experiences in our region already. We have even more attractions/experiences which are not immediately perceived to be kid-friendly, but with some changes to packaging and marketing, could attract more family and intergenerational travel.

How about adding more images of children, or grandparents having fun with their grandchildren, to our local attractions, experiences and accommodations websites? (Not many local operators are doing this) How about offering a discount/two for one/incentive/exciting package to grandparents travelling with grandchildren? How about starting a kids' club with cool stuff they would like on your website or on facebook?

 

More from NS Tourism's Product Development Day - there is much more money to be made in packaging experiences and creating memories than there is in simply selling rooms. Experiences can be developed to fall into one of three levels:

1. Level I - Show & Tell: This is the mass market and can be likened to plain vanilla ice cream! Visitors basically watch and see the attraction. Like going to a museum and looking at the displays. Low value-added.
2. Level II - Engage: This is the specialty market, sort of like Haagen Dazs. Visitors actually get to participate in an activity and perhaps create a "take away" memento. Maybe they take part in a tour customized to meet their interests, and then try their hand at decorating a reproduction of an artefact. Moderate value-added.
3. Level III - Immerse: Like a special treat from Ben & Jerry's! Visitors become guests or friends in a unique, innovative and unforgettable experience, the likes of which can only happen in Nova Scotia! Let's imagine our new friends enjoy their customized museum tour, but they do so while dressed in period costume, then enjoy an authentic period meal (which they help prepare), possibly right in the museum. There are all kinds of creative extras and lagniappes which can be added to this one.... VERY high value added.... this is the type of experience that guests are willing to pay a premium for.

That's what Joe Veneto  told us accommodations providers need to do in order to be successful today and in the future. Today's visitors want packages for a number of reasons. First, they suffer from time poverty, and packaging saves time. Second, they crave simple and seamless solutions, wanting to be emotionally on their way in short order. This raises a question for operators - are you and your website and your phone easy to do business with?

Thirdly, customers now expect operators to anticipate their expectations and needs. We need to think, "what else would our visitors like to do, or what might they enjoy?" You know what it's like to order from amazon.com. It's smooth, step by step. And they even anticipate other books you might like to buy, because other people who ordered the book that you're ordering also ordered this other book, or that CD. No one expects local tourism operators to reach amazon.com's level  of sophistication, but there is a lot that we can learn from their methodology.

Another tidbit we picked up at Product Development Day - "Lagniappe" derives from a Spanish Creole word meaning "the gift", but the Louisiana Cajuns gave it a French twist and spelling. It is now commonly used in the tourism industry to denote a small gift presented by a storeowner to a customer with the customer's purchase, or more broadly, an extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Remember yesterday's groundhog stuffed animals which are included in the hotel package we talked about? They are lagniappes. Of course the accommodations provider or packager covers the cost of the lagniappes in their pricing structure, but the visitor perceives it as a thoughtful gift.

It's all part of "turning moments into memories" for our guests. Thoughtful customization. There is a huge demand for this among intergenerational travellers, women's groups, niche and specialty markets, and corporate retreats. It's been determined that 40% of visitors are willing to spend 20% more for their getaways if they are able to have them customized. That means healthier profit margins for operators and more income for our communities.

 

On Groundhog Day in Nova Scotia, we wait to see if Shubenacadie Sam will cast a shadow. In the States on that same day they await Punxsutawney Phil, whose home can be found in - get this - Punxsutawney, PA.  That town's historic Pantall Hotel devotes one TV channel to continual airing of the movie "Groundhog Day", provides package guests with stuffed toy groundhogs in each room, transports guests to the Groundhog Ball and has a resident "Phil", suitably costumed, who entertains guests with his comic presence throughout the hotel.  

There are a couple of lessons to be learned here which we can profit from: 1) You can relate everything in the package to your own area - this is what makes you unique, and 2) You gotta make it FUN!

Shediac, NB has been flogging lobster for the past 50 years at least, but it still works. Same for Punxsutawney and the groundhogs. We have whales and scallops and more, and we can incorporate them into our packages to a greater extent than we now do.  Has there ever been a whale or scallop themed ball? (I think we could have a lot of fun being creative with that!) What about somehow making use of the movie "No Reservations", which features a sub-plotline around scallops with saffron sauce? (The recipe is on Youtube! Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grm15ehoYwI )Has a local crafter ever made cushiony scallop or whale stuffed toys? Just thinking out loud here....

 

Let's look at some successes elsewhere that were discussed at NS Tourism Product Development Day and imagine how we could transfigure them to be exciting and relevant for Annapolis Digby....

A Winnipeg B&B put together a "Cultural Currency" package (the Royal Canadian Mint is in Winnipeg - get it?!) including visits to the Mint, the Manitoba Museum, bronze medallion souvenirs, plus two nights' accommodation in a stately mansion which includes gourmet breakfasts. The idea was to give guests a reason to stay for TWO nights rather than just one - imagine how our tourism income would increase if we could turn all those one night stays into two-nighters.... packaging is one way to do this. Consumers, while time-starved, find it difficult to turn away a well packaged value.

Locally, we don't have a "mint" per se, but I'm thinking of taking advantage of our local riches to create packages which include a day or half day with an artist/artisan, combined with entry to one or more of our museums, combined with our already well established "Graveyard Tour" in Annapolis Royal, with a locally made handicraft item for guests to take away (you can let your imagination run rampant with this one). This creates an easy incentive for visitors to stay for not one, but two nights in our region!