Project Title:

Vancouver Island and Coast Tourism Research

Project Organization:

Tourism Vancouver Island

Project Investment:

  • Island Coastal Economic Trust: $12,000
  • Applicant's Equity: $2,250
  • Vancouver Island Coast CDMOs: $9,750
  • Total Budget: $24,000

Tourism data related to visitor spending, destinations, and home locations is readily available at a provincial level. However accessing more granular, localized data is a challenge, particularly for regional Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO) on the Island and Sunshine Coast. Previously, community DMOs used independent methods such as visitor experience surveys to better understand local tourism experiences. Unfortunately, these results are rarely shared between communities and are often difficult to compare due to inconsistent sampling methods. As a result, an incomplete picture of tourism data has hampered the region’s ability to make informed marketing and development decisions related to tourism.

Led by Tourism Vancouver Island, in collaboration with a dozen Vancouver Island-Coast community DMOs, this project involved the collection of comparable tourism data across multiple communities in the region. This process included the collection of data related to three performance indicators: awareness, desirability and Net Promoter Score. The research was conducted by a telephone survey of 1,000 BC and Alberta residents for each community and the region.

This project, completed in September 2018, was one of the first regional research initiatives in the province to standardize and track local tourism performance indicators. This long-term cooperative research program will be key to understanding consumer sentiments, developing effective marketing campaigns, supporting destination development activities and tracking the success of community DMOs in relation to the region.